Hunter's Dilemma
by Odd Tailor
Summary: Rick Hunter is dealt a huge curve-ball
1. Default Chapter

*(The usual disclaimers apply here. None of us own these characters but anyone here will agree that we absolutely LOVE them. These musings are exactly that: simply MUSINGS and further explorations into the personalities of these characters regardless of their fictional nature. You have to hand it to Mr. McKinney, Harmony Gold and Big West Japan for creating such BELIEVABLE characters and storylines (sans mecha et al) that we all want to know how they'll (sic) react/behave under slightly different circumstances. Suffice to say that this fic will throw Rick Hunter a huge curve-ball.)  
  
Khyron the Backstabber. The name was more than appropriate for this particular Zentraedi Warlord. Numerous occasions in the past attested to this and, given the incredibly long life span of his race, Khyron's notoriety/fame certainly had a very long time to proliferate. One incident that stood out in the minds of many was the time when he had his division deployed for the mission to Ranaaths's Star, which was actually a black- hole, as the Zentraedi were exploring the possibilities of other means of faster-than-light space-travel. It was a highly dangerous mission but one which Khyron deemed worthy of undertaking.  
  
His division was not without its merits, however. The Boturu Battalion, as it was known, often distinguished itself in many battles even in the face of insurmountable odds. But these often bordered on becoming Pyrrhic victories, had it not been for the Zentraedi's sheer numbers. Yet it could not be denied that even the most vicious of Invid fleets recognized the Boturu Battalion whenever it showed up.  
  
The last battle found the Boturu Battalion on their own as Breetai and his whole fleet sided with the Earth Forces against Dolza's main fleet. It was a battle which went against the very logic of Zentraedi warfare as they were outnumbered 1000 to 1 or even more but Khyron's emotions found him highly charged and anticipating the actual conflict. They would win however, and Khyron would find himself on the winning side anew. But his nature would not stand the very peace which Breetai and the other Zentraedis fought for. Millennia of conflict had seeped into him so much that it was his lifeblood. It was this very trait which Azonia, his new partner, abhorred at first yet found to like as she and Khyron experienced human emotions albeit the darker ones, first and foremost of which was LUST.  
  
Thus Khyron lived up to his name with his last act of defiance. He had surprised the united Earth/Zentraedi forces with his last attack and along with Azonia and was now on a direct collision course with the SDF-1. The "micronians" as he still called them, could only fatally disable his cruiser with that last main-gun shot. He would take the SDF-1 down with him in a blaze of glory....  
  
Captain Lisa Hayes and her crew were on the verge of hopelessness and panic as the SDF-1's main gun only grazed Khyron's resurrected cruiser. The whole thing was now a burning hulk of metal whose mass was giving its motion inertia further boost. Even IF the SDF-1 could fire another shot, the cruiser was already too near and the resulting explosion would engulf both it and the SDF-1. Evacuation was the only logical course of action. The escape pods were occupied one by one until it came down to only her, Admiral Gloval, and Commander Claudia Grant. However, 1 of the last 2 pods was malfunctioning and there were still the 3 of them. The last thing Lisa would recall was Admiral Gloval and Claudia forcing her into the last operating escape pod, stating that SHE was the only one who still had a reason to live.  
  
Lisa found herself floating on the shores of the artificial lake surrounding the SDF-1 and SDF-2. A veritech flew overhead and swooped down to where she was, and it turned out to be Commander Rick Hunter's Skull-1. Rick immediately alighted from his plane and all but gathered Lisa up in his arms like a baby.  
  
"Lisa! My lord, I thought you were in there! Thank God!"  
  
"Rick! They..they.. forced me into the pod! They said I was the only one who still had a reason to live! They sacrificed themselves for me!" Lisa half shrieked in between sobs.  
  
"You do, Lisa. You do." was all that Rick could say as he found no other words to soothe her.  
  
He silently thanked Gloval and Claudia for their last act. He had just acknowledged what he felt for Lisa Hayes an hour or two ago. Lisa had just come round his place to bid him farewell but she surprised him by admitting her feelings for him. It was more than enough for him to admit to himself that this was how he felt towards Lisa as well. He had stayed too long in denial and this was compounded by Lynn-Minmei's admittance of her own feelings for him as well.  
  
She had been staying with him for the past few days when Lisa dropped the bomb on Rick. Minmei was standing right behind him and she saw in Rick's eyes that the love he had for Lisa was now bursting out like water from a dam. It had been held back too long and even now that Rick's dream of being with her was getting realized, it proved to be no match.  
  
Minmei tried to persuade Rick NOT to involve himself in the conflict anymore but her arguments had fallen on deaf ears. Rick headed off to the hangars for his veritech, leaving her to watch helplessly as she slowly lost him. She lost him to the military: she lost him to Lisa Hayes. Even now as the whole fiasco was getting concluded, she watched Rick as he brought Lisa back from the other side of the artificial lake and saw the love and concern in his eyes.  
  
"These were meant for her!" she thought; but now it was for Lisa that Rick felt them.  
  
"Rick."  
  
Rick didn't know how to react to Minmei. He may have admitted his feelings for Lisa but he was yet to sort out his feelings for Minmei. He DID choose but deep inside, Rick knew that what he felt for Minmei would stay in him for a long time, albeit buried and stashed away in the back of his mind.  
  
"I'm happy for you, Rick; for both of you." Minmei uttered.  
  
"Thanks, Minmei. What about you?" queried Lisa.  
  
"Well, you know I still have my dreams of being a star. Also, I wasn't exactly THAT ready to be married or tied down. And I believe I can help the people recover more quickly from this. The pains of war must be overcome and if I can help, I will". Minmei replied. "You both take care now!"  
  
She then headed for the shelters. Lisa saw the pain that Minmei was trying desperately to hide and was going to say something; an apology maybe, but Rick held her and as she looked at him she saw him shake his head. He knew that there was nothing neither of them could do in order to make it easier for Minmei.  
  
"She's denying her pain, Rick. trying to cover it with her dreams." Lisa stated.  
  
"I know. But there's nothing WE can do about it. We all have to move on." Rick replied.  
  
"Oh well..I'll go see if I can help with the injured." Lisa added.  
  
Rick nodded his assent and Lisa headed off to the same shelters that Minmei was heading for.  
  
* * * * *  
  
They say Protoculture was a magical technology. Indeed it was and many benefits were realized from it. But it was not without its pitfalls and even now, its real nature was yet to be known. One of these was how Protoculture would react to certain factors foremost of which was underwater pressure. When the alien ship that became the SDF-1 first crashed on Macross Island, there were only a handful of experiments done which tested Protoculture under those circumstances.  
  
So now the remaining Protoculture inside Khyron's cruiser was currently under a few hundred meters of superheated water and debris, not unlike the underwater areas near volcanic vents. The protoculture had become energized but since there was nothing to harness its energy output, it just kept getting energized. When the water pressure became too great, the reactor it was encased in imploded and the protoculture was drenched in superheated water. The reaction caused the resulting plasma to shoot upwards and escape from the watery depths. This "plasma" behaved very similarly to the actual reaction occurring during a space-fold. Everyone near the lake saw a "fireball" shoot up from the depths.  
  
"What in blazes is that?" Rick heard Max utter over the comm.  
  
Rick turned his gaze towards the direction where the commotion was happening and saw the fireball. He then gaped in horror as he realized the trajectory it was taking would most likely land it near the shelters. He ran for his veritech in order to launch and shoot it down. However, the tech-crews were not yet done servicing it.  
  
Lisa had seen the fireball as well and began running towards the shelters in order to supervise immediate evacuation.  
  
Minmei had slowed to a walk after she turned away from Rick and Lisa. She was wiping her tears away, her thoughts filled with the numerous times Rick was there for her and now, that would no longer be the case. She didn't notice the fireball overhead.  
  
Lisa kept track of the fireball and gasped in horror as she saw it was headed straight for Lynn-Minmei. With her remaining strength, she dashed for Minmei.  
  
"Minmei! Look out!" Lisa cried.  
  
"Huh?" Minmei turned and saw a distraught-looking Lisa running towards her. She looked up and saw the fireball heading towards her.  
  
"Lisa! Minmei! Nooooo!!!!!!!!!!" shouted Rick who was also heading for them.  
  
Rick's thoughts raced as he sprinted towards the 2 women. He had just found Lisa's love but Minmei's feelings weighed on him still. Losing one was very painful, but losing both? Rick shook his head to clear his thoughts.  
  
Time is of course, relative. The few milliseconds that transpired seemed too short for Rick Hunter who knew yet tried to deny that he wouldn't make it to Lisa and Minmei on time. For Minmei and Lisa however, it would seem like a lifetime. The 2 were engulfed in the plasma-fireball from Khyron's cruiser. Yet no burning sensation was felt by either of them. Each woman beheld the other in front of her. Pain: one of losing one's love and the other of losing one's only friends and colleagues. Triumph: one as a beauty- queen and the other in academics. Many aspects of each one's personality was opened up to the other. It was as if each was watching a movie of the other's life and in the end, both would center on one thing: LOVE. The love both felt for one man, Rick Hunter. And in that moment of realization, each acknowledged the other's claim on him as worthy, and each would gladly give him up to the other.  
  
Unlike the "shapings" done by the Invid, this one had no higher sentience to govern it. It could not discern which person/aspect to give up and which to keep owing to the fact that each aspect/person was as much as the other. In the end, this rare "shaping" did the only logical course of action: it kept both.  
  
Rick finally made it to where the 2 women were standing but had to hold back a bit as the "blaze" was too bright. Max, who was still in his VT shielded Rick using the veritech's mechanized hand. Max noticed something odd with the phenomenon in front of him, however.  
  
"Uh Rick, I know it sounds weird but I'm sensing no heat from that blaze. It IS bright but that's all it is according to the sensors." stated Max.  
  
Rick gave him a quizzical look then turned his attention to the blaze. It then fizzled out and when Rick's vision cleared, he could make out just one shape.  
  
His thought were racing as he approached the still form of a woman, the identity of whom was yet to be known. He was hoping it would be Lisa but at the same time dreaded the possibility of Minmei losing her life.  
  
As he approached, Rick noted that the clothes the woman was wearing was an odd mix. There was the apron Minmei was wearing an hour ago but as he helped her up, he saw the military uniform and the rank of Captain. As she came to, she noted Rick was in front of her and was dusting off the debris on her.  
  
"Rick! I thought I'd never see you again!" she sobbed into his shoulder.  
  
"There now, I'm here and everything's fine. I thought I'd lost you there again. Where's Minmei?" Rick asked.  
  
"Stop kidding around, Rick. I'm right here." she replied.  
  
"Eh? Are you kidding me, Lisa?" Rick asked.  
  
"Mr. Hunter. I am most assuredly NOT kidding." she stated authoritatively.  
  
"What are you looking at?" she then asked as she smoothed her hair in a very Minmei-like manner.  
  
Rick was agape at what he saw. He then knew why Lisa was wearing an apron. Her hair was darker now; a mix of Minmei's raven-locks and Lisa's light- brown tresses. She was as tall as Lisa but the way she stood was reminiscent of Minmei's pose. And when Rick looked into her eyes, it was Minmei's eyes on Lisa's face.  
  
--------------------------- =========--------------------------  
  
"I told you all that and more for 5 times already, Dr. Lang. And anyway, I am NOT a criminal who needs to be grilled here." stated a very irritated Lisa/Minmei.  
  
She and Dr. Lang were currently inside his laboratory where he had her undergo a battery of tests in order to confirm who she really was. The problem was she was still in every essence, Captain Lisa Hayes and all the answers she gave confirmed this: from her rank and serial number down to her shoe-size. What WAS it about shoes that women ALWAYS knew their respective size, Dr. Lang thought.  
  
But what clinched it was the deep retinal and DNA-scans Dr. Lang reserved as the last tests: Caucasian and Asian mix, 50:50. Not that Minmei wasn't already a bit of something like that and Lisa did have a bit of Asian ancestry as well but the ratio this time was drastically different from what WOULD have been a natural mix had it been achieved through generations of normal human-interbreeding.  
  
Even now as he held the retinal-scan from the current subject, Dr. Lang was more than dumbfounded as he compared it to Lisa's and Minmei's scans taken after the initial space-fold to Pluto. 76 specific points from the current scan matched the same points on the earlier ones; more than enough to confirm her identity or in this case, identities.  
  
Yet despite this match, the person in question was a unique individual in her own right. Such a blending was totally unheard of even in the genetics labs where Dr. Lang spent 5 years studying before coming to Macross Island.  
  
"The people you requested are here, doctor." declared a young assistant.  
  
"Good. Show them in. I'll need to apprise them of the situation first." Dr. Lang replied.  
  
Minmei's Uncle and Aunt from the Little Dragon restaurant were led to the room where Dr. Lang was expecting them.  
  
"Mr. and Mrs. Ling. Glad you could make it," said Dr. Lang as he welcomed them.  
  
"We came as soon as we got word, doctor. We all thought something unfortunate happened to Minmei since we only last saw her before she was reported missing. Has she been here all this time?" queried Minmei's uncle.  
  
"No. But I believe she can tell you herself. She's in the next room after this one. I would advise you, however not to take appearances at face value. She may look different now." advised Dr. Lang as he stood up and led the couple to the next room.  
  
"Uncle! Auntie! I'm so happy you're both okay! I'm so sorry I disappeared without letting you know where I was. It's just that everything happened like a blur these past few weeks and I was so confused," a teary eyed yet happy Lisa/Minmei expressed as she hugged them.  
  
"Uh----yes, yes! You-you---had us worried, child. You-----you---know you shouldn't have done that. Your auntie and I were worried sick after watching and hearing the reports that you were missing!" her Uncle replied.  
  
Lisa/Minmei saw the confused looks in them however, and she also noted the obvious apprehension in their voices and behavior.  
  
"It seems like you don't believe that I am who I say I am, eh Uncle? Auntie?" queried Lisa/Minmei.  
  
She then began talking to them in Chinese and this was all that they needed to hear. Every doubt they had as to her identity were immediately dispelled and the two rushed to hug their niece who soon joined them in their tears of happiness as she told them everything that had happened to her since she was reported missing.  
  
This whole scene was currently being viewed through a 1-way mirror from the next room by Dr. Lang with his team along with Exedore and Captain Rick Hunter.  
  
"I wouldn't believe it if I did not hear it myself. THAT was pure Chinese, Captain Hunter." stated Dr. Lang.  
  
Rick could only nod his head in agreement and amazement. Just a few minutes ago, he saw the subject confirm every aspect that she WAS Lisa Hayes and now the same person had just confirmed her being Minmei as well.  
  
Rick thought back to the events which transpired immediately after he caught up with Lisa/Minmei. He could NOT discern her true identity but the opportunity was lost as she appraised the situation at hand and immediately began supervising the RDF in conducting search and rescue operations. No doubt, it was Lisa doing that, apron and all, Rick thought. But after 3 hours of non-stop coordination, he saw her comforting a child who had lost her mother in the crowd. "LISA" sang to the child and soon the distraught youngster was fast asleep and a crowd had gathered round her as they heard Minmei's sweet, soothing voice.  
  
*****  
  
Lisa/Minmei was completely unaware that a crowd had indeed gathered around her as she continued rocking the child softly. She was stirred from her reverie when Mayor Tommy Luan who was among the group, touched her lightly on the shoulder. She almost shrieked in surprise but the mayor immediately allayed her initial surprise as he brought the child's distraught mother who, until that time, had been frantically searching for her among the others.  
  
"There now, er, Minmei. Just give the child to her mother. Everything's alright now," whispered Mayor Luan who, despite his best efforts, could not immediately tell who this lady was in front of him. All he knew was he heard her sing to the child and this she did so in Minmei's voice. That was what the mayor chose to use as reference, thus he addressed her as Minmei.  
  
"I see. I'm glad you found her. The child was so troubled when I spotted her. Well, I'll need your help in rounding up and organizing the rest of the survivors, Mayor Luan. Please supervise the other civilians in the northern sector. They're mostly from Macross Island and I believe your familiarity with them will make it easier for you. After that, please submit a report to me as to how much medical supplies will be needed there," Lisa/Minmei replied.  
  
Mayor Luan could only nod in agreement as more confusion poured into his mind with Lisa/Minmei's reply. Just a few minutes ago, she was singing sweetly to child and there was no denying that it WAS Minmei that he heard. And now there she was - giving orders and organizing the RDF rescue squads as they did their rounds. That was most definitely Capt. Lisa Hayes doing it. Now it was Mayor Luan's turn to almost jump out of his skin as Capt. Rick Hunter called him from behind.  
  
"Don't even try to figure it out, Mayor Luan. You'll get a very nasty headache, trust me. I've got one myself right now," a half-kidding, half- scared Rick Hunter advised.  
  
******  
  
"What about you, Exedore? What do you make of this?" queried Dr. Lang.  
  
"I am at a loss to explain as to how this came about, Doctor. But suffice it to say that this "MELDING" as you would call it, was indeed brought about by Protoculture." Exedore replied.  
  
"Protoculture, you say?" asked Dr. Lang.  
  
"Yes, I'm quite sure of it. Unfortunately, I cannot begin to explain the process as I didn't know it was possible to use Protoculture in such a manner. The most that we Zentraedis know of Protoculture usage is when we use it in our ships' fold-drives. Of course, I also count in the fact that our immense size was also brought about by genetic-manipulation through Protoculture AND that we are also mostly clones. That is the nearest application I can think of that's similar to what has happened to Capt. Hayes and Lynn-Minmei," Exedore explained.  
  
"Rick? All this is giving me a headache and it's been a long day. Can we just get out of here? I don't think I can take much more," Lisa/Minmei said as she tugged at his sleeve.  
  
Rick nodded and rose up as he helped Lisa/Minmei to her feet.  
  
"I guess that's all we can do for today now, Dr. Lang; Exedore. Lisa says she's very tired right now so if you'll excuse us, we shall take our leave now," declared Rick.  
  
"No problem, Capt. Hunter. It HAS been a long day, especially for her. I suggest you bring her to her quarters so she can rest," Dr. Lang replied.  
  
Rick noted her reaction when he called her as Lisa only. He mentally shook his head as he didn't even know where to begin. He walked beside her as they exited the building housing Dr. Lang's laboratory. A quick drive and they were back at the soldiers' barracks. However, more than half of them were destroyed in the recent conflict and Lisa's was among them. Most of her things were salvageable though.  
  
"I guess we'll have to find you someplace else for the night. Good thing these military shelters are modular and can be replaced immediately. You think Jean would mind if I brought you - eh?" Rick stopped in mid-sentence as Lisa/Minmei cut short what he was about to suggest.  
  
"I'd rather stay with you tonight, Rick. Please. More so, I don't think I can face Vince or Jean in this condition. I-I'll just get some of Lisa's, uh, MY things, okay? I won't take long." A still quite unnerved Lisa/Minmei half-begged Rick.  
  
Rick could only nod his assent as he saw that despite her silence, she was currently swimming in a stormy ocean of thoughts, ideas, and memories.  
  
He could only imagine what inner turmoil she was experiencing right now as he helped gather her belongings. As soon as they were loaded onto the jeep they drove off, heading for his quarters.  
  
"Well, here we are. Just leave your things by the sofa there and I'll be the one to sort them out later, okay? What would you like for dinner, by the way?" Rick asked her.  
  
"I think it's best if you sort them out now and leave the cooking to me, Mr. Hunter. If I recall correctly, I'm the one whose folks had the best Chinese restaurant. In space, to boot!" chided Lisa/Minmei.  
  
She shooed Rick out of the kitchen and immediately took charge of cooking preparations, finishing what she had been preparing a while ago. Then she set about cooking dinner, the aroma of what promised to be a delicious meal wafting through the air.  
  
As Rick finished putting away Lisa's belongings, a sudden thought hit him. He knew that Minmei was only just recently staying with him before Khyron's attack and even then, she was NOT familiar with the kitchen setup. Yet there she was, cooking a meal for two in his kitchen and she knew where everything was. It slowly dawned on him that the rumors about Lisa tending to his quarters during her free-time had been true all along. The bridge- bunnies were obviously not kidding when he overheard them gossiping about him and Lisa a few days ago.  
  
"Dinner's ready!" she chimed, poking her head into the room.  
  
Rick started slightly at the sound of her voice. It was now a mix between Minimei's melodic accent and Lisa's huskier tone.  
  
"I'll just wash up then we'll eat. You go tidy up upstairs," Rick said, giving her a quick smile.  
  
Dinner for Rick was a strange experience. Not that the cooking was bad. In fact, it was the best cooking he had tasted since the last time he was at the Little Dragon. But the cuisine she had prepared was a curious mix of Oriental and Western dishes.  
  
Rick speared a dumpling with his fork and popped it into his mouth. "Hm! Ish good!" he said through a mouthful of dumpling.  
  
Lisa/Minmei smiled. "It should be. That's my uncle's recipe."  
  
He sampled her salad next and his eyes widened. It was delicious! Then Rick piled his plate with the club sandwiches. He bit into one and had to close his eyes in ecstasy. Who cares if he was going to have a major stomachache later on? He could always take medication.  
  
As he chewed, he looked across the table at her. "These sandwiches are good!"  
  
Lisa/Minmei's smile faded and her face took on a thoughtful look. "They were the same ones I made for our picnic, you know. But you were late that time. Very late," she said quietly.  
  
Rick stopped chewing and lowered the half-eaten second sandwich on his plate.  
  
"I spent the whole day waiting for you at that outdoor café," she continued.  
  
"Look, Lisa, I ." Rick began but she cut him short.  
  
"You said you took care of some 'personal business.' Some 'personal business' that was. I mean, it took you the whole day! Well, at least you showed up, wearing the scarf she gave." She suddenly stopped, her eyes widening in realization. A hand went up to her mouth. In a different tone, she continued, "- the scarf I gave you."  
  
As the gravity of the situation dawned on them, Rick thought to himself, "This is gonna be much harder than I thought." Right now, the stomachache was definitely a better alternative. 


	2. Chapter 2

Fusion-Chapter 2  
  
Thoughts raced through Rick's mind as he searched for something to say. Lisa-Minmei was about to berate him further on the scarf-incident when she cut herself short. The part of her that was Minmei had undoubtedly cut short Lisa's train of thought and words as "Minmei" realized that Rick still wore the scarf as he went on to meet Lisa after 'their' afternoon together. Ordinarily, "Minmei" would consider it a big score in her favor to know of something like this; but somehow it wouldn't seem right to do so right now. Oh, she still felt happy about it, but she felt odd about gloating over it.  
  
"Lisa" on the other hand couldn't get herself to continue scolding Rick. She realized early on that this situation left her with no physical manifestation or representation of anyone that could be called her rival. Even now, her residual irritation ("Minmei" WAS still feeling giddy) was fading and she was beginning to share in Minmei's obvious delight about the whole situation. Somehow, their emotions were beginning to merge at a faster rate than either of them anticipated.  
  
Rick felt a single bead of sweat roll down his nape as he watched Lisa- Minmei wrestle with herself. Finally, the deadly silence was broken as she relented somewhat; the conflicting emotions within her had cancelled each other out.  
  
"Well. I guess that's that. I'm glad you like the food. Care for seconds?" asked Lisa-Minmei.  
  
"Er, no. I WILL have one more sandwich though AND dumpling of course," uttered Rick who did a quick save as he saw her features change slightly as he almost exclusively said "sandwich". He knew that she was still at odds and to seemingly show preference for one dish over the other felt like a life or death decision for him.  
  
"I'll tidy up here. I believe you'll like a good soak in the tub. Good thing the plumbing in this area remained untouched. Hot water is still available on tap. I took the liberty of decking out your toiletries on the shelf when I put away your belongings," added Rick who essayed an attempt to change the topic by focusing her attention on her exhaustion. Lisa or Minmei, Rick knew enough that both women WOULD like a long, hot soak in a tub.  
  
"Thanks, Rick, that's a capital idea," replied Lisa-Minmei. A long, languid, hot soak in the bathtub was exactly what she needed to wash away the heavy air of the day. With that she undid her apron as she rose from her seat, removed the pins from her hair and moved towards the bathroom. "By the way Rick, were the toiletries all that you touched? I assume you saw more than that." Lisa-Minmei teased as she disappeared from view. She then dropped the apron she wore in a suggestive fashion.  
  
Rick who had been picking up a fallen fork hit his head from under the table at what he heard and saw. That last comment she made surely hit home - not because of what it meant but more of the manner it was said. To date, only Minmei had the habit of teasing him like that. Lisa only did so during that time the two of them were trapped within the deep recesses of the Zentraedi mothership. It seemed ironic now that Lisa then was teasing him about Minmei, and now there was no distinction between them. Rick wondered how she/they would feel now if he reminded 'them' about that incident.  
  
Lisa-Minmei disrobed and then proceeded to enter the tub. Rick had set the water temperature to just above warm and she put a few drops of Chinese mint bath-oil in it. She hesitated a bit then after a bit of thought, added a few drops of wild-strawberry essence as well. An hour later, she was done and she proceeded to dress up.  
  
Rick on the other hand, had settled into his usual habit whenever there was no mission: watching TV while working out. The whole affair had been taxing on him on all levels and the best way he could work this out was through this routine that he thought of himself. It wasn't really 'watching' TV as much as listening to it. He glanced at the set every so often and only actually got to watch during his quick breaks. He realized a few short months ago that Max's method of fighting was really beneficial and in truth, his own survival in the later conflicts and skirmishes could be attributed to his emulating it. Katas and exercises long-buried in his memories were recalled and remembered and true enough, his resiliency and his kill-rate in the battlefield increased substantially.  
  
Yet no amount of training could seem to help in this new situation. You could kill an enemy in battle; you could choose one person over the other. Simple enough, he thought. But the impossible and improbable had happened: the one he jilted and the one he chose were now one and the same. This was what was going through Rick's mind as he went through one of the more difficult katas that Max showed him. It wasn't just a kata but a breathing exercise as well since it entailed a slow, regimented breathing coupled with a double-timed martial arts exercise. It was one of Max's well-kept secrets which aided him greatly especially in battle.  
  
Rick was still lost in his thoughts when he heard something fall in the bedroom. At first he thought that Lisa-Minmei had been overcome by exhaustion but such was not the case as he entered the room. What he saw was a towel-clad Lisa-Minmei staring at the mirror, hair-dryer at her feet. Then he saw her shift her gaze to a picture of Minmei stuck on the upper left corner of the mirror to that of Lisa's on the opposite side. Max, in an attempt to tease Rick, had stuck their respective pictures on each side of the mirror during his last visit.  
  
Thoughts and ideas raced through Lisa-Minmei's mind as she finally shifted her attention back to her own image on the mirror. She gingerly touched her hair and inspected her whole face. It was the first time she beheld her reflection and what she saw left her speechless.  
  
Although 'Lisa' was expecting something like this, being actually confronted with the reality of it was unnerving. But for 'Minmei' who was less emotionally prepared for it, it was a total shock. Yet in spite of them both, Lisa-Minmei felt oddly calm.  
  
Rick, sensing what was going on, asked gently, "Are you okay, Lis-Min.er.?" He drifted off, unsure of how to address her.  
  
She turned to him and after a few seconds of excruciating silence, gave him a soft smile.  
  
"I'm quite okay, Rick. I was just surprised that's all." Lisa-Minmei replied. Then her features shifted, going from curious to sly in a heartbeat. "Couldn't make up your mind who to call, could you? I guess this will take a lot of getting used to, huh?"  
  
Thankfully, the phone rang and Rick went off to answer it. He returned a few minutes later with an introspective look on his face.  
  
"Who was that, Rick?" Lisa-Minmei queried.  
  
"Weird. It was Col. Maistroff. He says there'll be an important meeting Friday next week and I'm required to attend, though he refused to elaborate. I told him I'd let you know but he says you're not required to attend, though I can bring you along." Rick replied.  
  
"Really? Now that is odd. So far, I'm the only remaining high-ranking bridge-officer here and to have a meeting without me in it seems out of place. What time did he say it would be?" Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
"9am sharp. I guess that means turning in early tonight. We'll find out soon enough anyway. I'll go take a shower now," Rick said.  
  
He proceeded to the bathroom for his turn to wash up. Rick was secretly glad he'd have to turn in early. Knowing Minmei's penchant for late night- talks and Lisa growing curiousity about the meeting, he was dreading the possibility of her asking him about what or how he felt about this whole situation had they stayed up late. He was sure she would be asking him about it. A few minutes later, he emerged from the shower, brushed his teeth and put on some light clothes for the night. Lisa-Minmei had already done the same and was now seated on the bed. Rick retrieved the extra pillows and blanket from the cabinet as he would be sleeping on the sofa again tonight.  
  
"Okay, that's it. I've set the alarm for 7:45am tomorrow. That'll give me a 15-minute window for jogging. As it is, there's still a lot of debris to clean up at Macross Lake. I'll see you later. Goodnight..!!" Rick said as he almost said 'Lisa' again. Lisa or Minmei, he knew that one name wouldn't fit the person he beheld in front of him now. Lisa-Minmei saw through this however, and gave him a soft smile.  
  
"Okay, Rick. Thanks for everything again and goodnight!" Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
The first 3 hours went by without incident. Rick was even dreaming of being back in the air-circus again, flying old biplanes and doing aerial- acrobatics. In it, Rick was about to exit from a complex quadruple spiral maneuver by systematic stalling and recovery, a move he could do with his eyes closed. In fact, it took him a shorter period of time to learn it, quicker than his teacher, Roy Fokker. It was going like clockwork, or so he thought. But at the last moment, Rick took a bit too long and he wasn't able to recover from the induced stall and he found his plane falling towards the audience stands. Rick desperately tried to regain control of his plane but nothing seemed to work. He panicked when he saw that his plane was heading towards a figure in the stands that stayed seated in place even after all the others rushed away before Rick's plane crashed. As he watched helplessly, the figure turned and Rick saw her face: it was Lisa- Minmei.  
  
In the bedroom, Lisa-Minmei herself was having her own nightmare. The characters in them were an amalgamation from each woman's life. Things were going well with Minmei dreaming that she was with Lynn-Kyle during her heyday as a star in Macross City while Lisa was dreaming she was reunited with Karl Riber on Mars Base Sara. Both dreams did a 360 and suddenly Karl and Kyle were looking at Lisa and MInmei with a twisted, sinister look. Both men began to change in appearance and soon became a being made up Kyle, Karl and Dolza. The said figure grabbed Lisa-Minmei while laughing manically. Both women did what only came naturally: they screamed for Rick.  
  
Rick on his end, also saw the Lisa-Minmei figure in his dream scream in panic as she saw the plane heading towards her. He was roused from his sleep however when he heard Lisa-Minmei scream for real in the bedroom. He immediately rushed to the bedroom and found her thrashing about wildly in bed, screaming his name and begging for help.  
  
"I'm here! I'm right here!" Rick half-screamed as he held Lisa-Minmei by her shoulders. He succeeded in waking her up and as soon as she was aware, she saw Rick before her, assuring her that it was just a bad dream. Lisa- Minmei almost tackled Rick as she embraced him and sobbed into his shoulder. Rick could only try to soothe her as she cried.  
  
"It all seemed so real, Rick! I couldn't get away from.." Lisa-Minmei stuttered as she recalled her dream.  
  
"It's alright now. I'm here. Everything will be alright." Rick half- whispered as he soothed her.  
  
A few minutes and more sobs later, she had calmed down somewhat. Rick just held her as he let her cry it all out.  
  
"You okay now?" he asked,  
  
"Yes - yes, I - I'm fine now. Thanks." Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
"Okay. I guess its time we both got back to sleep. I mean, its 3am already and we've a long day ahead of us. Since you're fine now, I'll head back to the sofa, okay? Goodnight, again - eh?" a startled Rick said as Lisa-Minmei held onto him tighter as he let go and was about to stand up.  
  
"Rick, could you just stay here with me tonight? Just sleep here, can you?" she asked.  
  
Rick was about to mildly protest but as soon as he saw her eyes almost on the verge of tears again, he relented and agreed to stay with her. Whatever her dream was, it surely must've been really disturbing.  
  
"Alright. I'll just go get my pillows, okay?" Rick replied.  
  
A quick trip to the living room and he was backing the bedroom, carrying the extra pillows under his arm. Lisa-Minmei made some room on the bed and Rick finally settled onto it.  
  
"Goodnight, Rick."  
  
"Goodnight, Li---er----Min, I mean goodnight, too." was all Rick could say in return.  
  
He was about to face the other side of the bed away from Lisa-Minmei when he felt her move closer to him and she lay her head on the crook of his arm, just below his shoulder. She then settled into an embrace and was soon fast asleep.  
  
"Oh boy!" Rick thought to himself. A numb arm was the least of his concerns come morning.  
  
---------------------- ===================-----------------------  
  
Morning found Rick waking up a few minutes earlier than his alarm. He'd grown used to doing so way back in his dad's flying circus where waking up on time meant someone (usually Roy) was already up and would throw a bucket of water on you. This morning was radically different however for instead of a bucket of water, Rick found a woman sleeping beside him as his face was half buried in her hair. He almost panicked until memories of last night came to fore and he remembered Lisa-Minmei asking him to stay after her nightmare. They were currently 'spooned' together with Rick as the outside 'spoon'. It wasn't that bad waking up beside Lisa-Minmei, Rick thought. In fact he was growing to like it every minute that passed and he was taking in more of her hair's scent. His thoughts were cut short however when Lisa-Minmei startled him by reminding him of the unfinished mop-up operations at Macross Lake later.  
  
"You enjoying yourself, Mr. Hunter? As much as I prefer to stay this way myself, unfortunately we STILL have a lot to do today, remember? As I recall, search and rescue ops are still in effect today." she teased.  
  
"Yes, ma'am! I'm up now ma'am!" Rick quickly replied, his cheeks reddening at her allegations as he stood up from the bed.  
  
His embarrassment wasn't hidden from Lisa-Minmei and she saw him as he headed for the bathroom. She was surprised at herself as well, actually. Her accusation hit her as well, if not more than it did Rick. She had to admit that waking up curled against Rick with his arm draped over her felt really nice and was more than enough to erase the memory of her nightmare. 'Minmei remembered their time together, trapped in the holds of the SDF-1 when Rick comforted her and she fell asleep on his shoulder. Lisa recalled the time when Rick saved her from the Grand Cannon Installation in Alaska and she sat on his lap inside Skull-1. Little did Lisa-Minmei know that Rick was having his own nightmare just before she had hers.  
  
Rick emerged form the bathroom all decked out in his uniform. Lisa-Minmei noted that there he was just one bar shy on his insignias from what she had on hers (though he was already a Captain as well), signifying Rick's quick ascent up the ranks. Pretty soon, he would be on equal rank with her and could probably override some of her commands if the situation called for it much like the late Commander Fokker did.  
  
"Your turn, ma'am. I'll go prepare our breakfast. Anything you'd prefer?" asked Rick.  
  
"A bowl of oatmeal and a few of last night's dumplings, will do. And some orange juice, please." She replied.  
  
"Roger that, Captain: Skull-1 out for breakfast preparation." Rick teased.  
  
She had no time to make a clever retort as Rick was heading for the kitchen already. She did a quick shower and as she went out, Lisa-Minmei's thoughts were centered on what to wear today. She was surprised to see that Rick had laid out her RDF uniform on the dressing table with one particular addition: Minmei's scarf. Rick's, actually but it seemed an ideal addition to Lisa's otherwise strait-laced, serious uniform.  
  
"I wonder what Rick will say when he sees me wearing this..." Lisa-Minmei quietly laughed to herself as she strode out of the dressing room. Rick had just finished inspecting himself when he heard her exiting the bedroom.  
  
"I'm all set here! What about you-----------, oh.." was all Rick could say as he saw Lisa-Minmei walk towards him wearing Minmei's scarf over Lisa's uniform, making for an altogether unique but nice combination.  
  
"So am I. Well, what are you looking at, Captain Hunter? Cat got your tongue? Better get over it or we'll both be late." she chided.  
  
En route to the temporary headquarters, it was all Rick could do to keep his eyes on the road. Lisa-Minmei had tied her hair back in a low ponytail as well and along with the scarf, she looked really good; different but good.  
  
"Captain uhh---Hayes! Dr. Lang and Exedore are expecting you in the new research facility. Captain Hunter, sir! Commander Sterling is waiting for you at the hangars. " saluted a serviceman at the gates as he handed them a portable tablet PC which outlined today's activities.  
  
"It figures. I assume they'd want to run more tests on me." Lisa-Minmei irritatingly expressed, and tossed the tablet onto the seat without reading anything first. Rick got it and he began viewing the schedule.  
  
"Let me see that. Nope. No tests scheduled for you today. Those two want you to accompany them to the Factory satellite where you'll be meeting with Breetai and a few other Zentran generals. You'll be bringing a team of technicians who'll immediately begin repairs to the satellite. Hey-hey-hey! This is interesting." declared Rick as he read a segment of Lisa's schedule.  
  
" What? Let me see." and Lisa-Minmei took the tablet.  
  
The tech-team was indeed there to supervise and initiate repairs but what was interesting to note was they had been successfully MACRONIZED a week before. Lisa-Minmei recalled a communiqué addressed to her from Admiral Gloval which she received during the forging of an alliance with the allied Zentraedi after the initial battle with Dolza's fleet. The reclamation of the Robotech Factory satellite was successful but owing to the purely military culture of the Zentraedi, repairs and replacements were more than badly needed. It would take too long to teach the giants the various ins and outs of service and repair so in the end, a team of human techs would have to be macronized.  
  
" I guess I had them wrong there. Maybe this won't be such a routine day after all. Will I see you later for a late lunch?" she asked Rick who had just finished bringing out his replacement flight suit.  
  
"I hope so. With all the search & rescue ops going on, I might run a tad late but I'll try. Save me some pineapple salad if you see some in the menu, okay?" Rick replied.  
  
Lisa-Minmei had to smile and wince at Rick's last sentence. She recalled both Roy Fokker and Claudia Grant and how that particular dessert was the last one that the two were supposed to share after Roy's ill-fated mission.  
  
"Maybe we can share it in their place. I wonder what Claudia would say right now..?" she wondered to herself as she made her way to Dr. Lang's headquarters.  
  
After about 2 hours, Rick saw the transport group that was bringing Lisa- Minmei, Exedore, Dr. Lang and the others to Breetai's flagship which was parked in geosynchronous orbit above the North American Quadrant. He silently said a prayer for her as he wasn't sure how Lisa-Minmei would behave in a mission given her current state. Rick was glad that Max and Miriya were among the armed escort group that would accompany them. He was stirred from his thoughts as he heard the flight-deck crews give him the okay for final take-off procedures. It was a more or less routine mission for the Skull, New-Vermillion and Blue squadrons as they scoured the area fro any survivors or developments. As it was, Lake Gloval and the surrounding area which was within a 2-mile area, was declared "HOT" (radioactive) and was off-limits to all but key RDF personnel. Rick wasn't expecting anyone else to be found as one night had passed by. He was in for a surprise though for as he alighted from Skull-1, he was approached by 3 Type-2 destroids which were being manned by the micronized Zentraedi-trio Rico, Bron and Konda.  
  
"Captain Hunter, sir! We couldn't believe it with our own eyed when we saw it but there were at least a few more survivors from the SDF-1! We found them yesterday shortly after you took Captain Hayes to the lab." all three declared enthusiastically.  
  
"Really? That's great! Who were they?" Rick asked.  
  
"The three bridge-officers, Lt. Commanders Leeds, Porter, and Young!" the three declared.  
  
Rick couldn't believe what he had just heard. The 3 bridge-bunnies were alive! They were currently in ICUs in the nearest medical facility but they were otherwise in stable condition. A further questioning and he learned from the 3 Zentraedi that the bridge-bunnies were still inside their escape pods and had just passed out after landing in the water yesterday. Rick dashed off to the hospital where they were kept.  
  
Upon arriving however, Rick learned that they weren't allowed visitors yet so the best he was able to do was to have the attending doctors inform him immediately as soon as the 3 regain consciousness. The 3 Zentraedi were eagerly waiting outside for any news about the bridge-bunnies and all but pounced on Rick as he exited the building.  
  
"Whoa, guys! No need to rush! They're fine and the doctors are doing their best to help them get better. You should be proud of what you did. Any longer and they would've suffocated in their escape pods. It would've unfortunate if the thing that saved them by keeping the pods afloat would've been what killed them eventually. Good work guys!" Rick stated as he patted them on their shoulders.  
  
He was actually amazed at their huge show of concern over the girls. He had learned from the boys that Vanessa, Kim and Sammie were actually the first human-Zentraedi contact; the first "dates", so to speak. And it was even more poignant since the venue was a disco in Macross City when it was still within the holds of the SDF-1. 


	3. Fusion3

The trio was more than relieved with the news Rick gave them. Once they had settled down, the three expressed their intention to return to Lake Gloval as there was still the rest of the afternoon for salvage operations. They added grimly however, that there were no further survivors to be found from the wreckage. That was another thing Rick noted regarding these 3 specific Zentraedi survivors: despite spending millennia as purely soldiers, their adaptiveness to new fields of endeavor was nothing short of amazing. They've been peddlers, dry-cleaners, toy-hawkers, etc. These 3 had done all the odd jobs you could think of before opting to re-enlist though it was with the RDF now. It was a stark contrast to their brethren who failed to adjust to a non-aggressive lifestyle. A substantial number of them had just been slain in a recent uprising by none other but Rick himself with the Skull and Green Squadrons just the other week. "What makes these other well- adjusted Zentraedi so damned different?!!" Rick thought to himself as the three slowly disappeared from view. Genetically-related or not, they still looked and behaved very human, especially now. At least there were Zentraedi who did take well to peace, foremost of which were Lord Breetai, Exedore, Miriya and a slew of others. Rick breathed a sigh of relief knowing that they were the ones with Lisa-Minmei on the mission to the Robotech Factory satellite. He wondered what she was up to right now as he made his way back to the hangars.  
  
---------------------------- =================================---------------------------  
  
"Docking-procedures, complete. All crew, prepare for disembarking." a voice rang over the comm as Breetai's flagship was secured inside the huge landing bay of the factory satellite. Lisa-Minmei felt just a very slight vibration as gravity-anchors held the flagship in place.  
  
"We're here. I'll go on ahead to the ready room. I'll wait for you and your team there, Dr.Lang. Capt. Hayes, shall we?" boomed Breetai despite his best efforts to speak softly. Lisa-Minmei nodded her assent as she made her way to the moving ramps which were retrofitted to the walls of the factory. She had to laugh inwardly as she had to hold on to the handrails as the ramp's pace was such in order to match those of a Zentraedi's normal walking gait. Yet this was still a tad too slow as Breetai had to slow down considerably in order to facilitate a conversation with her. Indeed, even for a Zentraedi, Breetai was quite tall. In human standards, he would've been a 6-foot 7-inch man.  
  
"You find things amusing here, Captain?" queried Exedore as he sidled up to Lisa-Minmei.  
  
"Not really, Exedore. It's just that despite our best efforts to make things around here modular, there's always something that won't fit. Not in a bad way I mean, but I guess this stems from a being's uniqueness, whatever race he/she might be." She replied.  
  
"I see what you mean and I find it amusing myself. Then again, Lord Breetai has always been a Zentran who's a notch above the rest and even his peers attest to that. I had thought that we would've just fled to other star- systems when we learned that Lord Dolza decided to eliminate everything here in your planet including us "tainted-Zentraedi". But his peaceful overtures and eventual alliance with your RDF was one of his most surprising yet soundest moves. Did I ever tell you how he got his cranial- cowl?" Exedore offered. Lisa-Minmei was more than willing and she began to listen intently to Exedore as he recounted the events. It was in Breetai's act of saving the Tirolian, Zor where he lost his upper face. By then, Zor health was failing him and Dolza was torn between his dedication to Zor and his loyalty to the Robotech Masters. This operation was a unique event since the Zentraedi had no prior knowledge of repairing anything and had to rely on the other remaining Tirolians on their ship to instruct them. Suffice to say that the operation was a success.  
  
"It's also amusing to note that that operation was held on Zor's ship, the Azstraph." Exedore added.  
  
"Really? How so? Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
"It was the Azstraph which crashed on your planet, Capt. Hayes." Exedore replied.  
  
Lisa-Minmei was dumbfounded at this revelation. The alien ship that became the SDF-1 was actually Zor's ship. No wonder Dolza wanted to recapture it so badly. And it was the same ship which was pivotal in their victory over Dolza. Lisa-Minmei had a newfound respect for the SDF-1. She was almost startled when Breetai addressed her.  
  
"Are the mobile-ramps to your specifications, Captain?" Breetai boomed  
  
"Ye-yes, they are, Lord Breetai. Though I see that even these ramps have a hard time keeping up with a Zentraedi like you." she replied.  
  
Breetai gave a small laugh at her statement. The next few minutes went by wordlessly until they came to their destination. Once inside the ready- room, the meeting commenced. Exedore showed the progress of the repairs being done and their estimated time of completion. Various holo-screeens showed the areas where the macronized-techs were currently making diagnostics and repairs. They were a team of twelve yet even so, the sheer size of the factory-satellite coupled with the need to translate Zentraedi symbols meant a longer time was needed for repairs.  
  
"We'll definitely need them to instruct the Zentraedi here. How many from the list were able to make it?" Breetai asked.  
  
Exedore stated that out of 150 candidates, only 20 showed promise. These had actually made minor repairs on their batllepods and power-armor before.  
  
"It's a pity that Lt.s Rico, Bron and Konda aren't here with us. They were the ones who actually taught some of these candidates in the first place." stated Exedore who made a surprisingly human-sounding sigh.  
  
"Oh? I didn't know that. But then again, I am not surprised as they were members of Khyron's Boturu Battalion. Did you know Capt Hayes, that Khyron's battlepod was his own design?" stated Breetai as he turned to Lisa- Minmei.  
  
"It was?!!" she asked.  
  
Breetai nodded as he went on to reveal that Khyron found the then existing battlepod design insufficient when dealing with the enemy in close quarter combat. While their power-armor and the Quadrono suits were designed for this purpose, there was glaring need for a combat-unit that had features and capabilities that had the battlepod's land-mobilty and Quadrono articulation needed when battling Invid scouts. Thus was born the special battlepod design that was reserved for flight commanders. Their success in battle rose up tremendously after a sufficient number of the new battlepods were used. Of course, Breetai received commendation for this as well since the Boturu Battalion was under his command. Breetai also expressed his dismay at Khyron's behavior and stated that had Khyron been anything better, then the repairs would've commenced a lot sooner.  
  
"Try to find more of the remaining former members of the Boturu Battalion. I believe that their skill will be of great help here." Breetai ordered the other Zentraedi officers.  
  
They were about to move on with other matters when warning sirens and alerts went off. A gravimetric surge was detected on the dark side of the moon, signifying a substantial number of ships had just de-folded there.  
  
"Have you verified the identity of these newcomers?" Breetai asked.  
  
"Yes, sir. They're Zentraedi, mostly female: the B'Elarna Division. RDF defenders have taken off and will engage them in 2 minutes." the sensor- crew replied.  
  
"B'Elarna, eh? Well they're in for a surprise. Were the rearticulated pods deployed as well?" Breetai asked.  
  
The crewman replied that they were, with Lt.Commander Miriya Sterling heading them while her husband Max, headed the veritech crews.  
  
-------------------------------------===============================-- ----------------------------------  
  
(Main Ship-B'Elarna Division)  
  
"We have found the factory-satellite, Commander. The initial reports seem to be correct as the fighters they've dispatched are a mix of Zentraedi and alien origin." a crewman reported.  
  
"Amazing. Lord Dolza's Imperial Fleet was indeed defeated here. Just how powerful are these "micronians"? Are they as powerful as the Masters? No matter. They'll soon feel the wrath of the B'Elarna Division. Decimate them!" Commander Zelaenna ordered.  
  
Soon, the area of space between the moon and the factory-satellite was a battlefield. Veritechs and battlepods engaged the Quadrono and tri-thruster ships from the enemy. In the midst of it all, 2 Quadrono armors were lording it over their adversaries while Max and Miriya were decimating ship after Quadrono.  
  
"Do you see them, Adlea?" asked the other Zentraedi.  
  
"Yes Gela, I do. They're quite good but they'll see that they're no match for us." the other replied.  
  
With that, the two boosted to Max and Miriya's location and enagaged them. Max and Miriya were a bit surprised but were able to cope immediately. Soon, it was a pitched battle.  
  
"Aaarrgghh!! I can't believe it but this one has been able to avoid almost all of my strikes and manage to take out one of my thrusters!" an irritated Adlea spat over her comm.  
  
"This one's good, as well. It seems as if a Zentraedi is piloting it and using Zentran-tactics." replied Gela.  
  
"Did you see those battlepods? They're quite different from the ones we use ordinarily. From the way it functions, it seems they've been augmented!" Adlea added.  
  
True enough, the rearticulated battlepods were lasting longer than their ordinary counterparts. Robotic arms from the RDF's defender-mecha were added to them, smaller destroid-cannons and a few more maneuvering thrusters as well. The enemy's battlepods were sorely outclassed. Meanwhile, on Max and Miriya's end:  
  
"Woo-hoo! I haven't this much fun since I last fought you, Miriya! Man, but you female Zentraedi are danged good!" Max declared.  
  
"Be careful, Max!!! These two mean serious business! Wait a minute! I think I recognize them! Max, just try to disable your opponent!" Miriya replied, as Max's exhilaration added to her already growing suspicions.  
  
"Disable, eh? Well, here goes!" and with that, Max zoomed off.  
  
The next few minutes were a blur as the two veritechs went all out against the two Quadronos.  
  
"You're quite good, girl. But-not---quite---good---enough." declared Max as he deftly dodged every volley and shot that the enemy mecha launched at him. When the smoke from the explosions cleared, Max had the other at gunpoint with the Quadrono's main thrusters damaged, while Miriya and the other armor-unit were in a Mexican-stalemate, though damage was also evident on the other Quadrono's thrusters.  
  
"It seems you're out of luck, Adlea," Gela observed.  
  
"Well, you're in no better shape. Your enemy will take you out as soon as you shoot," Adlea taunted back.  
  
"Oh well. I never thought the day would come that we would taste defeat. But they'll never take us alive. I, at least, want to know who defeated us today." She turned her attention to the veritechs. "Enemy unit! I am Lt.Commnader Gela Parino of the Zentraedi B'Elarna Division and that is my sister, Adlea. Identify yourselves." Gela asked over the comm.  
  
A few minutes of silence went by as no one spoke up immediately. Even before Gela had finished stating her name, Miriya knew who it was they were fighting early in the battle. She knew by the tactics that the two used that they were who she suspected. Max was about to open a channel when Miriya asked him if she could do it instead.  
  
"Maximillian; let me," she asked of him. Max nodded his assent.  
  
"Quadrono armor-units, this is Lt.Commander Miriya Parino Sterling formerly of the Laplamiz Fleet and that is my mate, Commander Maximillian Sterling. Lord Breetai extends his invitations to Commander Zelaenna. There is much to be discussed. I suggest a truce for now," Miriya replied, the slight jitter in her voice evident.  
  
Gela and Adlea could hardly believe their eyes as Miriya shifted her veritech into fighter mode so as to provide them a better view of her.  
  
A few nerve-racking minutes passed by before Gela responded.  
  
"All fighters, cease operations. We will return to the mothership and inform Commander Zelaenna of these developments," Gela ordered her squadron.  
  
With that, the enemy fighter ships withdrew leaving only the two Quadrono armor units. Max had lowered his rifle by now but he was still wary of the two. He was almost about to raise his rifle again as the two Quadronos approached them but stopped when he saw Miriya's veritech transform back into Battloid-mode and give a hand-signal to the two who in turn, gave their own hand signal. The two then zoomed off towards their mothership.  
  
"What was that all about, dear?" asked Max.  
  
"I just wanted to know if they still knew," Miriya replied as she had to stifle a sob.  
  
Max then told her to transform back into fighter mode so he could retrieve her since he knew she was in no condition to fly after the recent developments. He ordered the remaining fighters to just bring back her veritech with them as he returned to the factory-satellite with Miriya in the back-seat.  
  
---------------------------------- =================================----------------------------------  
  
Back on the factory-satellite, Lisa-Minmei was more than surprised at the recently concluded battle. Not only were these the first non-Dolza Zentraedi, as it turned out Miriya's sisters were among their Quadrono fighter complement.  
  
"It seems we have them surprised, eh Captain Hayes?" Breetai asked as he turned to Lisa-Minmei.  
  
She could only nod in agreement. She recalled the time she and Rick spent on Dolza'a world-ship where they saw not only sizing-chambers but cloning chambers as well. While there was no actual sense of family among the Zentraedi, it seemed that clones who were aware of each other addressed each other as kin though according to Exedore, such an occurrence was quite rare as clones were almost always spread out among the fleet especially those who showed exceptional skill. Proof enough was Miriya who was alone with the Laplamiz fleet headed by Azonia.  
  
"Most likely, they found themselves together in a campaign where their two fleets combined. I myself am not aware of my clones though I suspect that they may still be out there," Exedore stated.  
  
"And now Miriya's sisters have found her. Let's hope we can use that as further leverage in convincing them to join us. I'd hate to see such skill go to waste. If they're anything like Miriya, I believe they have built their own reputation in battle as well," Breetai added.  
  
"The fighter-complement has returned, sir. Minimal losses incurred," reported a crewman.  
  
"Hmm. Congratulations on your suggested augmentation-designs, Captain Hayes. Most of our fighters made it back. Extend my congratulations to your partner in this strategy, Captain Hunter as well," Breetai stated.  
  
Lisa-Minmei breathed a sigh of relief at the report while attempting to hide a blush that was slowly creeping up her cheeks. Breetai's last statement made more of an impact than he could imagine. Her initial suggestions to augment the battlepods were indeed a success. It was actually Rick who made the initial suggestions after he and Max spent an afternoon in the war-room of the temporary headquarters threshing out new strategies. Max had mentioned an inherent weakness in the Zentraedi battlepod-design which enabled him and Miriya to take them out of action while preserving the lives of their pilots. Max added an instance where a micronized Zentraedi approached him when he was in a grocery buying milk for Dana. The Zentran, after verifying Max's identity, thanked him profusely for not killing him and only disabling his battlepod, mentioning where and when that battle took place. Max's insight was quite deep and he suggested that the RDF find a way to improve their overall battle-prowess in case more Zentraedi were to come along or worse, the Robotech Masters. Indeed, the earth forces now had these Zentraedi as their allies and their technology was a huge addition but they still did not have the numbers which, they assumed the other Zentraedis had more than could be imagined. To date, Exedore revealed that there were five more world-ships that he was aware of. Five fleets the size of Dolza's: heck, even half of Dolza's could obliterate them right now. Rick agreed that what they lacked in numbers, they had to make up in power and skill, thus the need to improve and augment existing human/Zentraedimecha designs. He showed his findings to Lisa and Admiral Gloval then and the Admiral approved it. Lisa of course, put her own two-cents in to the mix and what got carried out was a conglomerate of her's and Rick's designs. Max couldn't participate actively after that as Dana was becoming more of a handful by then. Lisa-Minmei fondly recalled those times she and Rick spent together finalizing the plans where she would've almost burst with all the sexual and emotional tension in the room then. She almost told Rick how and what she felt back then and it was almost funny how she was going to spend a few hours in the same quarters she used in this factory-satellite: the same quarters where she again almost revealed to Rick her emotions. "What was she to Rick now?" she asked herself. She always sensed a huge confusion from him before and it only got cleared when Rick finally chose her, Lisa, over Minmei. But that same confusion had returned, and she knew that Rick was having an extremely difficult time with her current condition. She herself was confused as Minmei's memories came to fore and she recalled the Christmas Eve Rick spent with Minmei where she came round to tell him but ran away when she saw them together. Her thoughts on the matter had to take a backseat as a crewman reported a communiqué originating from the B'Elarna Division.  
  
"Greetings, Lord Breetai. Are you serving these micronians now?" Commander Zelaenna taunted.  
  
"On the contrary Zelaenna, these micronians have given me more knowledge about Protoculture than the Masters ever revealed to us and thanks to them, I was able to defeat Dolza and his Imperial fleet. I suggest you join us in our mission to enlighten our Zentraedi brethren." Breetai replied.  
  
"You, master the innate workings of Protoculture?!! I don't believe it! Show me proof!" an obviously incensed Zelaenna responded.  
  
"What further proof do you need? Our fighters were able to repulse your Quadronos. You could not deny their superior fighting skill as they ran rings around your fighters. Even your best warriors were bested by mine," Breetai replied.  
  
Much as Commander Zelaenna hated to admit it, there was a lot of truth in Breetai's words. An obvious indicator of added Protoculture knowledge was vastly improved fighting skills in a mecha and in battle-strategy. The Parinos were proof of this and so was Khyron. And it was clearly obvious that the male micronian who Miriya declared as her mate was highly skilled in battle as he defeated Lt.Gela. Did these micronians really possess knowledge of Protoculture?  
  
"IF I should agree to what you're saying Lord Breetai, that would mean going against millions upon millions of our Zentraedi brethren should they choose not to believe in us. I'll need more than that to go on if I am to risk myself and my fleet," a somewhat introspective Zelaenna added.  
  
"Indeed. But from what I have experienced here with these micronians, it is often the batlle itself that is more invigorating, not the outcome. Wouldn't you agree?" teased Breetai.  
  
Lisa-Minmei and Exedore could hardly contain their amusement at the scene unfolding in front of them. Given the short span of time that Breetai and the others had spent in contact with the humans, Breetai had already learned the art of negotiation and bargaining so much that one would think he was a well-seasoned diplomat.  
  
"Very well, though I am not completely convinced I will go there and see for myself. I believe you can be trusted not to fire upon an unarmed enemy?" Zelaenna stated.  
  
"You have my word. When shall we expect you?" Breetai queried.  
  
"In about three hours. Zelaenna out."  
  
"It seems we have caught her attention, my lord." Exedore noted.  
  
Breetai nodded in agreement. He had only used as a bargaining-chip what he himself noticed during his initial contact with the earth humans especially in battle. Captain Hunter and Commander Sterling were but a few examples of micronians who displayed tremendous skill in battle not to mention and few others who followed in their footsteps. Indeed, the new recruits spent lesser hours in simulation but displayed better aptitude in battle. As far as strategy and tactics went, the late Admiral Gloval and Captain Hayes were prime examples as well especially after he learned that the Daedalus Maneuver was Lisa's idea. There was also Dr. Emil Lang and his team of scientists who were able to adapt Protoculture to their own technology. Exedore suspected that had the earth humans been given more time and if they had been as numerous, they would have probably developed their own weapon systems that could match the Zentraedi's own firepower. The Grand Cannon Installation in Alaska was also proof of this. Breetai could only begin to imagine what they could achieve together; maybe even rival the power of even the Robotech Masters.  
  
"I'll retire to my designated quarters for now, Lord Breetai. Please inform me as soon as their retinue arrives." Lisa-Minmei said as she stood up to take her leave of the ready-room.  
  
"Go ahead, Captain Hayes. You'll need your rest especially if Zelaenna decides to go against us." Breetai stated.  
  
Lisa-Minmei stopped on her way to the door, surprised by Breetai's last statement . What backup plan did he have in case Zelaenna did not side with them? Though their number wasn't anywhere near Breetai's one million, female Zentraedi divisions were known for their speed and unusual yet highly effective battle-tactics. In truth, they were more effective in battling Invid hordes than their male counterparts.  
  
Yet Breetai knew something that he wasn't saying. In their experience with the Zentraedi, Lisa knew of only one thing that enabled them to win over the vastly superior military might and firepower with the meager forces they had. As realization sank into her, she turned slowly and fixed a disbelieving look on him.  
  
"You're not saying..?" she whispered audibly.  
  
"Indeed, I am, Captain Hayes. Though we can defeat them in battle, it would be more beneficial to our cause to have them as allies. The only way we can convince them is not by fighting them, though we will if we are forced to."  
  
Lisa-Minmei 's throat had gone dry and, as if coming from a great distance, she heard Breetai say simply, "You may have to sing." 


	4. Fusion4

Lisa-Minmei was still a bit out of sorts as she entered her temporary quarters. Breetai did intend to have her sing in case Zelaenna wasn't convinced that he had control of Protoculture here. Sing. In all her days, 'Lisa' never sang seriously and her only recollection of ever doing so was for her father's birthday just a year before she decided to join the academy. Even so, it took a lot of prodding from her mother and her aunts for her to sing the birthday song. Oh, she could carry a tune but in her opinion, it wasn't decent enough to called singing.  
  
Yet this predicament she was in left Lisa-Minmei feeling eager to sing as well. This stemmed from 'Minmei' who right now, was enthusiastic about the whole thing. 'Minmei' for her part wanted no one to be hurt and if her singing could prevent a further loss of lives, then she'd be more than happy to play her part. All in all, it was a huge clash of emotions within Lisa-Minmei and right now, she couldn't make up her mind.  
  
She was stirred from her thoughts by the beep of the room's systems, signifying the presence of a visitor. She righted herself and gave permission to whoever it was outside to come into the room. It was Miriya who was holding Dana as she lay sleeping in her mother's arms.  
  
"I hope you don't mind my bringing her here, Lisa. The area where our quarters were had to be shut down temporarily as the technicians made repairs. They said it would take two hours more until they're done," Miriya explained.  
  
"Oh, it's quite alright. I don't mind having you and Dana over. I mean, this isn't the first time we've been on this satellite together, right?" Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
"Thank you, Lisa," answered Miriya. She took a few minutes as she adjusted Dana's sleeping position so as not to awaken the baby. She looked at Lisa- Minmei for a few seconds before saying anything.  
  
'By the way, how are you now, Lisa? Or should I say Minmei?" Miriya queried.  
  
"Whichever you prefer, Miriya. I'm fine, as far as the definition of "fine" goes. I'm not sick or anything if that's what you mean." Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
"That's good to hear. I am not familiar with how you micronians deal with things like these; I mean I'm not even sure half the time if what I'm doing with Dana is correct but I am aware though, that what has happened to you is a rare occurrence which no human has ever experienced. I do know that if there's anyone who can handle this better than anyone, it's you." Miriya stated.  
  
"Thank you, Miriya. I appreciate it. How about you? How does seeing your 'sisters' again affect you?" Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
"Like I said, I don't even know where to begin. It's been one surprise after another for me. I guess you 'micronians' are really catalysts for the unexpected," Miriya jokingly added. "Oh? How so?" Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
"It was here in your system that I experienced defeat for the first time. Here as well where I asked to be micronized for the first time. And here where I fell in love for the first time, got married for the first time, had my first baby. Not to mention all the other events which I never thought nor even expected beyond my wildest imagination considering I didn't have any at all to begin with. Imagine: we triumphed over Dolza's Main Imperial Fleet!" Miriya replied.  
  
Lisa-Minmei took a bit of time digesting what Miriya had just stated. Indeed, for a Zentraedi like her, such things were a paradigm-shift, a wild roller-coaster ride whose thrill never ceased.  
  
"And now, it is here where I just learned that my clones, sisters, are still alive." Miriya added.  
  
"What do you intend to do about it then?" asked Lisa-Minmei who saw Miriya try to grasp at the various emotions she was currently experiencing.  
  
"I am not sure. But one thing I do know is that I do not want them to lose their lives in a meaningless battle. I share in Lord Breetai's sentiments and I'd much rather have them as allies." Miriya replied.  
  
"I'd hate to be the devil's advocate here but what if they don't side with us? Will you still fight them?" Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
"To protect what we've achieved, I will. But more than that, to protect Dana and Max and all those I hold dear to me, I will fight them," Miriya replied grimly.  
  
"That's why I came here to you as well. Lisa, Minmei, whoever you are now, I don't care. All I know is that you are my very good friend. Both of you. If and only if the need arises, will you please sing for all of us? Lord Breetai informed me of that aspect of his backup plans. Max and I agree that your singing might just be what's necessary in this situation. I still remember how your singing was able to turn many of my brethren over to our cause and I believe the same will hold true here. However, I am aware that it is still your decision and I for one agree that you should not be forced to do this. I hope Commander Zelaenna doesn't become a problem for all of us," Mriya explained.  
  
Their conversation was cut short as a slight stench began to fill the room: Dana. She was on the verge of "divesting her past meal", as Miriya would put it. While Miriya detested the stench, she still held a reverence of sorts for each and every menial aspect of motherhood, with diaper-changes being on the forefront of these. She decked out her supplies of disposable- diapers, baby-wipes, cotton balls, a pair of gloves, a plastic-bag for used diapers, and mild alcohol. Hands which spent centuries piloting mecha and shooting enemies in battle were just as quick and precise in their motion of cleansing and replacing Dana'a diapers. Lisa-Minmei stood in awe at all this and oddly enough, she recalled the same feeling whenever she saw Max and Miriya in battle. Again, Zentraedi-adaptation surprised her. Little did she know that Rick was currently thinking the same thing about the Zentraedi trio on earth. Mriya by then, had finished storing Dana's hygiene supplies and she stood up to take her leave of Lisa-Minmei, as she gathered up the still sleeping Dana in her arms.  
  
"Oh well, we have to go now. I hope Dana and I didn't take up too much of your time. I have to meet Max in the ready-room as we'll need to map out a strategy in case Zelaenna proves to be an equinne with a rigid behind," Miriya stated.  
  
Lisa-Minmei did a double at Miriya's last words. As it stood, Zentraedi were yet to learn the nuances of human language.  
  
"Stubborn-ass, Miriya. The word is stubborn-ass," Lisa-Minmei half- explained, half-laughed.  
  
"Oh, I see. I remember Max saying something similar to me before, about when not to switch words for another regardless of their similar definitions," Miriya said with an introspective look.  
  
"Well, your husband was correct. But don't admit it to him outright. Earth- men have a nasty habit of letting it go their head when you tell them they're correct. I'll tell you all about it when we're back planetside," Lisa-Minmei explained as she walked with Miriya to the door.  
  
After Miriya and Dana went out of her quarters, Lisa-Minmei was still giggling to herself at Miriya's attempts at human-language; though she had to admit that it was only in this particular aspect of human-behavior where Miriya stumbled. Beyond that, Miriya was actually excelling in one of humanity's most basic yet noblest calling: motherhood. She then fell asleep on the bed with her last thoughts in Rick as she wondered about what he was doing right now.  
  
----------------------- ===============================----------------------  
  
Back in the hangars, Rick Hunter was currently inspecting the tech-crews progress in repairing and reinforcing the veritechs and other battle-mecha. As per his and Captain Hayes plans, major weak-points on various areas of earth-mecha were pointed out and duly addressed while major-enhancements were made on the Zentraedi mecha that were stationed here. An earlier report he received from the factory-satellite confirmed that effectiveness of their plans. Male-power armor and rearticulated battlepods could go toe- to-toe with female Quadrono armor which, according to Exedore, were meant for intense close-quarter combat as well. Though he was yet to see an actual Invid scoutship, Rick shivered at what their appearance and capabilities actually were if he were to base it on the way Quadrono armor was designed. It was actually the only Zentraedi-mecha which he and Lisa left virtually untouched as they felt it was already perfect, the only additions were an increased fuel-supply and bigger variety of missiles that could be installed in them. As for the veritechs, he and Lisa took their cues from Max and Miriya's battle aboard the SDF-1 when he was still hospitalized. Max's winning against Miriya back then was treated as an exception rather than the rule since more often than not; veritechs were at a substantial disadvantage when pitted against Quadrono armor. But thanks to Dr. Emil Lang's latest research, the best earth-metal alloy currently used on the veritechs was further enhanced by adding the properties of the metal found on Zentraedi ships which could repair itself if the damage wasn't too great. A few more maneuvering thrusters were also added so as to enable quicker, more fluid movements especially in battloid-mode given the dexterity that Max demonstrated when he made his battloid don a Zentraedi uniform.  
  
Rick felt a bit odd as he wasn't really used to this aspect of command. He was more at home with being just a fighter pilot rather than actually take part in fighter-designs. But it was a mild discomfort he had to bear since he knew that when all this was done, the lives of pilots were at least further protected and their chances of survival would be greatly increased. Rick had to smile a bit as he remembered Lisa arguing with him when they were still in the process of ironing out the designs. He had only planned on having Lisa submit the plans to Admiral Gloval, stating that that was the extent of his participation. But Lisa thought otherwise and told him it would be a lot better if Rick joined her in presenting the plans to the Admiral. Rick was still adamant about his decision when Lisa countered him further by quoting him with one of his statements which Rick used against her before: that of not considering the hazards of outer-space that pilots like him faced every time they went out. Rick fell silent at this, and after a few minutes of wrangling with his conscience, dropped all his objections and gave in to Lisa's demands. Try as he might, he couldn't fault her logic in that last statement. He would accompany her to Admiral Gloval's quarters and together, they would present their plans to him.  
  
Ordinarily, Rick felt a bit of relief at what he and Lisa were, nowadays. He had been looking forward to spending some time with her after Khyron's attack but given that Lisa was now experiencing a unique identity-crisis, all his plans involving them as couple had to take a backseat. "Backseat, yeah," Rick muttered to himself. "Of a jumbo-jet," he groaned. And now Lisa and Minmei were one. Life didn't just throw a wrench in the works of his life: in Rick's opinion, it changed the whole god-danged engine. As far as Minmei was concerned, he thought he had just jilted her, choosing Lisa over her. Indeed, what could he say to her now? Rick almost jumped out of his skin when a hand tapped him on the shoulder. It was a Sergeant Williams who just wanted to give him an update of how things were progressing. Though most of the mecha would be finished by late afternoon, the number of mecha that was available at any given time was quite low and even a small attacking contingent would greatly drain the RDF's current defense capability. Newer mecha had to be produced and that entailed having the factory-satellite back to running condition immediately.  
  
Rick actually wanted to begin immediate construction of an SDF-3 and was about to make suggestions to Lisa about it during their meeting but in the light of the recent developments, decided not to put the idea forward for now. The loss of the SDF-1 and 2 was still too fresh on everyone's mind especially Lisa. But the need for added military capabilities was glaringly obvious and what the RDF had in technology, they still lacked in numbers. Heaven forbid that the Invid arrive earlier. According to Exedore, the Invid numbered twice as much as the Zentraedi whose advantage lay in the fact that their weaponry was usually more powerful than the Invid's. Of course, at that time, the Zentraedi had yet to see evolved Invid Troopers. After satisfying himself with further inspections, Rick headed back to the lockers in order to change out of his flight suits. He had to give a lecture to a new class of fighter-pilots and this would be his first time. Before he died, it had always been Roy Fokker who did most of the lectures and briefing to new recruits. Rick's lecture was supposed to have been held a few days ago but Khyron's last blitzkrieg disrupted the class-schedules and even now, most of them had not yet been feasible as the only hangar ideal for holding such classes was the carrier Prometheus which was destroyed with the SDF-1 as well. Rick fondly recalled his first day at class with this big brother who, despite his free-spirited nature, was actually a strict but brilliant teacher. Given his current frame of mind, Rick was second-guessing himself and was unsure if he would be able to do the same in his class.  
  
Things went by without much of a hitch though. Almost all of the cadets were aware of whom Rick Hunter was and even those who didn't, knew of his exploits at least. Rick was able to carry himself quite well and was actually enjoying himself until one of the cadets posed a touchy question: what to do if a pilot sees that what needs to be done goes conflicts with direct orders from the command-center. Rick hesitated and was actually beginning to sweat if not for the bell, which signified that classes were over. Rick breathed a huge sigh of relief. It seemed that the cadets were aware of more details of his exploits than those which he cared to share.  
  
Rick then headed for the gym for his scheduled workout and on the way; he decided to pass by the cafeteria in order to make reservations. He made a beeline for Sergeant Bess McMillan who was in charge.  
  
"Hey there, Bess! Looks like we're packed today, huh?" greeted Rick as he dropped his duffle bag and started rummaging in the fridge for some Gatorade.  
  
"Yep. These people are working on double shifts so they have two lunches scheduled for them," Bes replied.  
  
True enough, Rick saw most of the salvage crews and rescue teams from yesterday among them, Rico, Bron and Konda who waved at him from the far side of the room.  
  
"So what brings you here, Captain?" Bess asked.  
  
"Just getting two bottles of this stuff; I'm due at the gym for a workout. Also, can you reserve me a table in the right side near the windows? Plus, I'd like some pineapple-salad, for two," Rick stated as he stuffed the two bottles into his bag.  
  
"Pineapple-salad for two, indeed. You just love that stuff, don't you? Much like Roy used to. Wait a minute, did you say for two? You expecting someone to join you today?" Bess asked as she didn't get the last part of Rick's request immediately.  
  
Rick just gave Bess a sly smile then headed off to the gym, leaving a bewildered yet smiling Bess at the counter. As far as Bess could remember, Rick often ate alone save for those instances when Max or Ben was around or even Roy. Well Roy and Ben were dead and Max was married already so Rick's reservation meant only one thing: he would be having a late lunch with a girl. Bess snickered and then hummed as she went back into the kitchen.  
  
------------------------------------- ===================================-------------------------------------  
  
Back on the factory-satellite, Lisa-Minmei was doing her rounds of inspections as she wasn't able to get any sleep at all, thanks to Breetai's bomb and Miriya's visit. She found herself greatly disturbed yet expectant of the coming meeting with Lord Breetai and Commander Zelaenna. Though she wanted no conflict to arise and hoped that Zelaenna would join them peacefully, she knew that Zelaenna needed something more in order to be convinced. Spending millennia in war meant that the Zentraedi would be more convinced with a much more tangible proof of things or be beaten into submission with something overwhelming, and add to it the results of the past conflict with Dolza; Lisa-Minmei was more inclined to believe that she would be singing very soon.  
  
What Lisa-Minmei didn't understand with herself now was that fact that it was her being Minmei who was now becoming nervous about singing. Her initial eagerness ahd changed and now that part of her felt like doing so this time was tantamount to "whoring" or demeaning the whole essence of her singing altogether. "Lisa" on the other hand shared the sentiment but was more or less resigned to the possibility. Being more than of two minds on the matter, she decided to divert her attention to other matters.  
  
Thus, her next few hours were spent inspecting the work that the tech crews were busy with on the satellite. Given their very limited number, it was quite surprising to see that their work was a bit ahead of schedule, though what the crews accomplished were miniscule in respect to the actual amount of work that they needed to finish. Yet the task was less daunting as it seemed. The Zentraedi who qualified as "apprentices" were learning very quickly and after just a few hours of observing and taking lessons from the macronized tech-crews, were now installing new conduits and circuits on their own. In fact, the twenty technicians were now working on twenty different locations throughout the factory-satellite and were assisted by their own team of the qualified Zentraedi. Lisa-Minmei was more than satisfied with what she saw. She didn't hear Max Sterling as he sneaked in closer to her form behind.  
  
"Find everything to specifications, Captain Hayes?" Max suddenly spoke. He laughed as Lisa-Minmei spun round immediately to face him while gasping her surprise.  
  
"Maximillian Sterling! I can have you court-martialed for that! You mad me jump out of my skin there!" Lisa-Minmei remarked as she calmed down a bit.  
  
"Whoa! I didn't know you were that deep in your thoughts. I'm sorry. Oww!!" was all that Max could say as Lisa-Minmei pinched him on the upper arm.  
  
Max had to laugh in spite of the pain. The look on Lisa-Minmei's face was too precious to ignore. Max noted that the slight pout she wore was similar to that which she gave to Rick before when Rick asked her where 'Minmei' was, since neither Rick nor Max was aware that a melding had occurred.  
  
"I said I'm sorry! Ha-ha-ha! Calm down, will you? Man but you're really quite out of sorts today, huh? Miriya was right, Breetai's decision did affect you a lot," Max declared as he rubbed his triceps where the sting was still evident.  
  
"She told you? So what is this now, you here to convince me as well?" Lisa- Minmei asked albeit in a slightly irritated manner.  
  
"No, not really," Max replied.  
  
"I'm actually the one needing some advice here. I know you're aware of those two particular Zentraedi warriors we fought a while ago, right? Well, from the looks of things, seems they are indeed Miriya's clones or sisters, as she puts it. Frankly, that whole thing puts me in a bind. I mean, what am I supposed to do if they refuse our offer? I may not be Zentraedi but those two are Miriya's sisters, heck, they're the closest thing I'll ever have to in-laws and the possibility of having to eliminate them leaves a bad taste in my mouth," Max stated.  
  
Lisa-Minmei was quite surprised at Max's statement. Up until his marriage to Miriya, Lisa-Minmei had always thought of Max as being cut from the same cloth as Rick. Two of a kind, she always said to herself. Young men who deep down inside were still boys and thus having a great time in their veritechs. Rick surprised her with his depth when he argued against her orders during that time when Major Roy Fokker was still alive. Max showed his depth when he argued in favor of Miriya's suggestion to not destroy the enemy pods totally but merely disable them. And now here was Max, thinking about the fate of those two Zentraedi warriors. What was unnerving was Max was stating this plainly because he could indeed defeat them should the need arise. Other pilots would doubt their ability to fight or kill effectively but such was not the case as far as Max Sterling was concerned. Along with Rick, the two were the only veritech pilots whose skill was such that if you could give them an unending supply of fuel and ammunition, they would probably take on a whole fighter complement of battlepods and Quadronos with the possibility of winning.  
  
"I don't know, Max. I myself am lost and undecided right now. I just hope and pray that Commander Zelaenna does side with us. I viewed her available records that were stored in this factory's archives and I was quite impressed. She was what Khyron should've been: a brilliant and effective Zentraedi officer. Did you know that her division and the Boturu Battalion were neck and neck as far as achievements and victories were concerned? However, her achievements stemmed from precise, calculated tactics while Khyron's had a touch of viciousness in them. I definitely agree that eliminating them would indeed be a big loss for us," Lisa-Minmei concurred.  
  
Max nodded in assent. He then righted himself from the leaning position against the wall he had settled in and straightened his uniform.  
  
"Well, I'd best be getting back to Miriya and Dana now. I've got only two hours left to rest before these new Zentraedi arrive. I won't try to convince you to do anything for me or Miriya but I do know one thing: you always do the right thing Lisa; Minmei; and I believe in you. Later, then," declared Max as he made his way back to his quarters.  
  
The two hours passed by uneventfully and Lisa-Minmei heard the comm. as it prompted her to report to the bridge of the factory-satellite. She was greeted by the sight of Exedore, Breetai, Dr.Lang, etc as she went inside. She saw on the holo-dsiplay that the B'Elarna Division was currently a few thousand miles away from the satellite. It was a fleet of 345 ships, with each ship possessing its own fighter/Quadrono complement. A new holo- display flashed into existence, and they were greeted by the face of Commander Zelaenna and her first and second officers, Lt. Gela and Lt. Adlea Parino.  
  
"Greetings, Lord Breetai. You are prompt as ever," uttered Commander Zelaenna.  
  
"Greatings, Commander Zelaenna. I trust you have reviewed everything in the communiqué we sent a while ago?" queried Breetai.  
  
"Indeed, I have," she replied.  
  
"And what is your decision then?" Breetai asked.  
  
"We reject it," Commander Zelaenna replied.  
  
A collective gasp and groan was heard throughout the factory satellite. All had assumed that once the other Zentraedi knew of the events that transpired in this part of the universe then they would gladly side with Lord Breetai and company but such was not the case here now.  
  
"I do not believe that what you've shown me is possible. To defeat a world- ship like Lord Dolza's would require two or more Imperial Fleets and from what we saw, you did not have that number of ships under your command. It was amusing, however. But now, prepare to die," Commander Zelaenna declared and the holo-screen went blank. Breetai just looked straight into the area where the display was and clenched his fists. He then turned to Exedore and nodded his command.  
  
"All units, prepare to repel the enemy. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill," Exedore announced over the tach-nets.  
  
"Deploy battle strategy-zero nine gamma. I repeat, zero nine gamma!" Exedore added.  
  
Strategy zero nine gamma was actually the end product of Miriya's suggestion where enemy pods and fighters were to be disabled only. Fighting them was one thing but killing these other Zentraedi was another thing altogether.  
  
And so the combined RDF and Zentraedi fighter-groups were launched and they engaged the enemy head-on. The ensuing battle went as Breetai expected it would: a win in their favor. Still, the battle was considered an unnecessary undertaking. Things took a different twist however when the enemy suddenly regrouped and employed a new strategy which totally put the odds in their favor. To an untrained eye, it seemed like they were employing a blitzkrieg maneuver but Breetai knew otherwise. He himself had developed new battle tactics as they fought the Invid in various areas of the galaxy in order to cope with the newer, evolved Invid Troopers and Shock Troopers which were twice as fast and powerful as an ordinary Invid Scoutship. One by one, the RDF defense groups were being overwhelmed and soon, the enemy units were nearing the satellite. Max and Miriya had to leave their groups as they had to rejoin the inner defense units if ever the outer defense groups failed. The two barely caught up with the Quadrono group that was taking out the Destroids and veritech/battlepod groups one by one. Once Max and Miriya caught up with Gela and Adlea, the deadly ballet began anew. Miriya was faring better this time as she was no longer distracted with the fact that she was fighting her sister but rather she was focused on defending the satellite for inside was one precious object: her daughter Dana. Once Gela and Adlea were fighting Max and Miriya, the odds tilted back in favor of the RDF defenders. The veritechs and augmented battlepods were able to repel the remaining Quadronos and tri-thrusters. However, Max and Miriya didn' count on Gela and Adlea being able to enter the satellite.  
  
"Damn! Not again!" Max said in frustration over the comm.  
  
It was de ja vu for Max as he recalled his initial battle with Miriya inside the SDF-1. At least there were no buildings and civilians to watch out for now. However, the amount of damage wrought by their conflict was nothing short of enormous as whole sections of the inner walls collapsed or got riddled with ammunition. He and Miriya chased and fought Gela and Adlea and in the end, the outcome was the same: Gela had lost to Miriya while Adlea lost to Max. Unknown to them, Adlea's armor had struck the crew quarters which Max and Miriya were using and the whole wall had fallen down. Adlea opened the hatch of her armor and stepped out. She stood in front of Max's veritech, held the muzzle of his gatling-gun, and pointed it to her forehead; signifying her intent to be slain in battle by a worthy opponent. Max didn't realize however that Dana had crawled out of her fallen crib and was crawling to the side of the room where there once was a wall. He was surprised when Miriya suddenly shrieked his name, and told him to rescue Dana as she was too near the edge of the room. Max was too far to reach Dana in time and he griited his teeth as he desperately tried to reach his daughter who fell from the second level (This WAS a Zentraedi base so even the second level is way too high for a human). But something happened that totally shocked Max. Miriya and a host of other friendly Zentraedis who saw what happened next.  
  
Dana wailed as she fell from the edge and her cries touched something inside Adlea. Max saw Adlea stretch her hand out and she caught Dana halfway. Adlea then brought Dana closer in order to inspect her. "A micronized micronian?!! How can it be?" Adlea thought to herself as she echoed the sentiments her brethren felt when they first saw Dana.  
  
Dana on the other hand stopped crying as she no longer felt like she was falling. She then opened her eyes and gazed at her rescuer. A few seconds passed then Dana smiled as she held out her hands and tried to reach Adlea's face, and she uttered her second word: MAMA. At that, Adlea felt her emotions churn further and before she knew it, she was crying yet smiling at the same time. Gela, who had just stepped out of her own armor, was surprised as well as she too was shedding tears. Miriya then reconfigured her battloid into fighter mode and she too stepped out and ran to Dana. Max gazed in awe as he saw his wife and her sisters congregate around Dana.  
  
"Miriya. What is this micronized micronian? Why did I feel the need to save her when I heard her scream?" Adlea asked.  
  
"This micronized-micronian is my baby. What you felt is what I felt when I saw her fall," Miriya replied.  
  
"You mean this baby wasn't cloned?" Gela asked.  
  
Miriya shook her head.  
  
"No. This baby came from my womb. She is the fruit of my union with that man over there; my mate, Maximillian Sterling," Miriya replied as she gestured towards Max who had alighted from his veritech as well.  
  
"May I hold her?" Gela asked and Adlea handed Dana over.  
  
Exedore saw all this transpire and noted down everything. It seemed that the bonds of Zentraedi clones were a lot stronger than they expected. Adlea and Gela immediately shared in the maternal bond that Miriya had with Dana.  
  
"Well, that takes care of two of them at least," Breetai remarked.  
  
Lisa-Minmei could hardly contain her surprise at what she saw. Dana's cries pierced through centuries of hard, military existence and now the two foremost Quadrono pilots of the enemy were effectively out of the picture.  
  
Commander Adlea was seething at this turn of events. While her new organized blitzkrieg was still working, the loss of her two best fighters was still a major blow to her plans. She meant to take over the factory- satellite herself and then rejoin the other Zentraedi fleets that were still out there. But such was slowly becoming impossible as her strategy was beginning to lose it's effectiveness as the veritechs and augmented battlepods slowly turned the tide of battle.  
  
"It seems I have no choice then," Zelaenna thought to herself.  
  
"All units, prepare to deploy battle-strategy seven-three omega!" she blared over the comm..  
  
Her plan was uncannily similar to Khyron's during his last maneuver. The only difference was that five other main ships would precede her ship and upon nearing the satellite, the escort ships would veer away while her ship would fire its main-battery a few seconds before impact. She hoped to fatally cripple the satellite with this move.  
  
On the satellite, Breetai saw this and began to think of ways to counter it. Unfortunately, the maneuvering thrusters of the satellite were yet to be repaired and only a few main-batteries were operational. Exedore then chose this time to take Lisa-Minmei to the adjacent room.  
  
"What is it you want, Exedore?" Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
"That which we hoped not to happen has now occurred. But I believe we can still stop them and save as many Zentraedi lives as possible," Exedore replied.  
  
He opened a cabinet and produced an outfit form inside. Lisa-Minmei could hardly believe her eyes as she saw the dress that Exedore was holding.  
  
"I hope you don't mind. I took the liberty of having on of your outfits replicated in anticipation of something like this. I hope it fits you well," Exedore said as he gave the dress to Lisa-Minmei.  
  
They were about to exit the room when a huge blast rocked the satellite. One of the enemy escort-ships had fired upon them and the others were priming their own batteries in order to follow up the attack. Lisa-Minmei then saw the doors open to reveal a distraught Max holding his daughter as Miriya was slightly injured from debris falling from the ceiling of the hangars. Gela and Adlea were looking from the outside as their faces showed the same concern that Miriya was displaying.  
  
"Lisa! Minmei! Miriya got hurt but she's okay. However, Dana can't seem to calm down and the other quarters were heavily damaged so I'd like to leave Dana here with you whole I take Miriya to the infirmary. Lisa-Minmei nodded her assent as Max carried his wife to the infirmary. Dana was still bawling out so Lisa-Minmei decided to do the only thing that might calm her down: sing Dana a lullaby.  
  
Breetai and the rest were surprised as they heard the soft, sweet tunes emanating from outside the bridge. True enough, it was Lisa-Minmei singing softly to Dana as Dana slowly but surely ceased her crying.  
  
"Exedore, transmit that frequency on all bands now," Breetai ordered.  
  
The effect was instantaneous. Commander Zelaenna and her escorts ships ceased their attack and so did all their other fighters. Soon, all skirmishes had ceased. On the bridge, a holo-display flashed into view.  
  
"Ah, Zelaenna. I see you've heard this as well. What do you think?" Breetai queried.  
  
"Is that what they call a 'song'? Just how powerful is that, to stop a battle." Zelaenna asked.  
  
Breetai only nodded and gave her a smirk.  
  
"What do say about an alliance now, Zelaenna?" Breetai asked.  
  
Commnder Zelaenna could only nod as she agreed to Breetai's proposal. Lisa- Minmei was aware that they broadcasted her singing but she didn't mind at all as she was focused on calming Dana down.  
  
----------------------------------====================================-- ----------------------------------- 


	5. Fusion5

"I suggest you inform your troops of your decision immediately, Commander. We'll make preparations to receive you shortly," Breetai declared as an obviously unnerved Zelaenna was still in awe over the effect of Lisa- Minmei's song over her troops.  
  
"Congratulations, Captain Hayes. Your singing proved to be a definite tactical advantage again," stated Breetai as Lisa-Minmei put Dana back in her crib.  
  
"But that wasn't my singing. It was-" was all that Lisa-Minmei could say as Breetai cut her short.  
  
"Minmei's, precisely. But there is no separate entity for me to address as Minmei and doing so would be ridiculous as you are here right now. And as far as I am concerned, you are Lynn-Minmei AND Captain Lisa Hayes," Breetai replied.  
  
"I may not be qualified to judge what is good singing or not but what I do know is that what you just did was good and it helped us prevent the unnecessary loss of lives that would've happened if you didn't sing at all. It's something to be proud of Captain, and the sooner you come to terms with that, the better it will be for you," Breetai added.  
  
Lisa-Minmei was left speechless at Breetai's last words for it sounded more like a compliment rather than advice. For the Zentraedi warlord, it was easy to accept that Lisa Hayes and Lynn-Minmei were one and the same. It wasn't because he gave no considerations to what each woman might've felt about the melding (they spent millennia in their war-culture), but what he focused on instead was how to make use of whatever was available immediately and in this case, it was her command-capabilities and her singing talent.  
  
"All crew, prepare to receive our new allies, Commander Zelaenna and her B'Elarna division. Repairs on all our ships will commence as soon as crew- integration is complete," Exedore declared upon receiving the order from Breetai.  
  
The factory-satellite's huge bay doors opened and the three main ships of the B'Elarna Division entered. Like most of the Zentraedi ships, their armor had already healed in almost all the areas that had suffered substantial damage but it was evident that their ships had taken a heavy beating from the combined RDF and Zentraedi allied fleet. One by one, the mostly female crews of the ships disembarked and were greeted by their male counterparts. Lisa-Minmei could swear she saw a bit of excitement mixed with the usual apprehension on the faces of both Zentraedi groups. Indeed, gender-segregation seemed to be the norm as each gender was given slightly different yet specific tasks within the fleet. Working together would present a new set of factors that could either make a huge difference or spell trouble for all.  
  
Breetai, Exedore, Lisa-Minmei, Dr. Lang, Max and Miriya were the immediate officers who welcomed the newcomers. Salutations were exchanged and Commander Zelaenna formally declared her alliance with Breetai and his group. Outside the satellite, the remaining 305 ships were in gravity- anchors as repairs on them would commence as soon as the factory satellite was back in running condition. Breetai noted that the improved veritechs and Zentraedi pods were highly effective albeit, more than he had hoped for. Had they been any more effective, then the B'Elarna division would've suffered bigger losses.  
  
"Welcome aboard the factory-satellite, Commander Zelaenna. Your addition to our fleet is most welcome. You will be shown to your quarters after proper introductions have been made," declared Breetai.  
  
"These are my officers from the combined fleet of the Zentraedi Imperial fleet and their Robotech Defense Force. You of course know Exedore and Lt.Commander Miriya Parino Sterling. That is her husband, Commander Maximilian Sterling, Dr. Emil Lang, our head research-scientist, and one of my most able tactician and operations officer, Captain Lisa Hayes," Breetai introduced.  
  
"Well met. And may I add that your improved fighters and strategy were really deadly. If may ask, Lord Breetai, who was the one who made that mysterious sound that emanated from this satellite?" asked Commander Zelaenna.  
  
"That would be Lynn-Minmei who coincidentally, is also Captain Hayes but for reasons much too complex for me to explain, you'll just have to take my word for it," Breetai replied.  
  
Lisa-Minmei could swear she heard a hint of humor from Breetai as he answered Zelaenna's question. If there were indeed human traits that Breetai could easily emulate and develop, it would be irony and sarcasm.  
  
"You mean, a 'melding', Lord Breetai?" Zelaenna asked as they walked towards the bridge.  
  
"Why, yes indeed. Tell me, have you witnessed it before or has something like this happened with your crew?" Breetai asked as he stopped walking for a while, the curiousity within him growing.  
  
"Now that you mentioned it, something like that did occur to another fleet we were traveling with as we pursued the Invid in another part of this galaxy. We were in an area in space where there was a lot of natural gravimetric distortions so we had to be really careful in setting our jump coordinates. My B'Elarna Division made it through successfully but the other fleet suffered a substantial amount of damage as they reappeared in normal space. A third of the Q'Azira Division was rendered useless or damaged beyond repair. We investigated further and we found out that a few milliseconds before they folded into hyperspace from that quadrant, a huge gravimetric surge scrambled their jump coordinates thus, the resulting mishap. Some of the ships crashed into each other while others suddenly found their ships occupying the same space as the other did. However, there were some ships that somehow remained intact though their digital signatures were somewhat redundant. We later found out that these ships that did stay whole were actually two ships that somehow 'melded' together without mishap. The same could not be said of their crew, however. Almost all the crew in them died immediately upon reentering normal space. I have to admit though that this is the first time I've known it happen to an individual," Zelaenna replied.  
  
"Odd, indeed. The only other fleet who did something like that although intentionally, was your best friend, Commander Khyron. Anyway, we can discuss more about these things later. I suggest you and your crew rest for a while. Captain Hayes will show you to your quarters," Breetai stated as he took his leave of the dumbfounded Zelaenna.  
  
"Best-friend? Khyron? If I may say so, Lord Breetai has been spending too much time with you micronians," stated an obviously miffed Zelaenna.  
  
"For what he is now, his development in that aspect is quite amazing, Commander. Most of the Zentraedi here have yet to begin adapting to their surroundings. I take it though that your rivalry with Commander Khyron and his Boturu Battalion goes deeper than what you show," queried Lisa-Minmei of her giant counterpart.  
  
"Indeed, it is. I have no idea why it is that way but suffice to say that each time I received a commendation; he was receiving one as well though the number of reprimands he received was almost equal to that of his awards. I have to admit though that his redesign of the male battlepod was a stroke of genius. I guess you could say that what we had was an intense competition. What happened to him anyway?" asked Zelaenna.  
  
Lisa-Minmei then recounted the last days of Khyron and Azonia albeit painfully, along with their crew of malcontent Zentraedi and the destruction of the SDF-1.  
  
"I see. Along with Zor's ship and Azonia, it truly is an unfortunate occurrence," Zelaenna observed.  
  
Lisa-Minmei saw a brief glimpse of emotion in Zelaenna's eyes as she made her observation after her account. It suddenly dawned upon Lisa-Minmei why Zelaenna felt that way: she was Azonia's clone-sister. Apparently, Zentraedi who got exposed to Minmei's singing were quick to develop emotions albeit, unintentionally.  
  
Their paths soon diverged as Commander Zelaenna and her crew proceeded to their new quarters while Lisa-Minmei returned to hers. Once inside, she all but plopped into bed, undid her ponytail in the most Minmei of manner. Anyone seeing her would be surprised to see a high-ranking officer act in such a nonchalant way. Her own actions surprised her as well as she took note of them. She found it quaint how Breetai managed to maneuver things in such a way that was highly reminiscent of Admiral Gloval's own strategies. After all, it was Admiral Gloval's own strategy coupled with Breetai's that enabled their combined forces to take over the factory satellite. She had about two hours more of rest before she and a few other officers were to return to the earth's surface. Lisa-Minmei was about to go into a full- blown nap when she heard the room's systems alert her of a visitor which turned out to be Exedore.  
  
"I hope I am not intruding upon anything private, Captain," Exedore said.  
  
"No, not at all. I was merely preparing to rest for a while. I have to submit my reports once we're back on the surface and you know some of the other officers will not receive them well especially our unconditional acceptance of Commander Zelaenna's division," Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
"Yes, I know what you mean. For what it is, it seems Col. Maistroff and the others still haven't gotten over past issues with us Zentraedi," Exedore noted.  
  
"Well they should. Or else I'll force it down their throats and tell them to sit in the corner! Have they forgotten that if it weren't for you and Breetai's choice of alliance, we wouldn't have stood a chance with Dolza's Royal Fleet!" Lisa-Minmei declared emotionally.  
  
Exedore was quite surprised with Lisa-Minmei's outburst. If anything, Lisa Hayes was a headstrong woman who felt strongly about things yet not immediately vocal about it but now that she and Lynn-Minmei were one, these emotions made it to the surface rather quickly. This was yet another odd trait that Lisa-Minmei exhibited which he added to his mental notepad.  
  
"Well then, I just came by to give you my own set of reports for you to add just in case you need supporting documents. Good luck, Captain Hayes." And with that, Exedore stood up and left Lisa-Minmei's quarters.  
  
She made her own mental note of how Exedore had changed over time. Being of lesser physical stature than most of his brethren may have forced him to develop his mental skills and thus became Breetai's closest and most trusted advisor. Their combination was a highly effective one indeed and according to what reports were stored in the factory satellite's memory- banks, one of the most highly decorated divisions of the Zentraedi. Lisa- Minmei then proceeded to store the various documents she had into a file folder and took a nap. She awoke to the sound of Miriya and Max rousing her and Dana pounding on her legs, engrossed in a game that only children of her age understood.  
  
"Alright Dana, that's enough. Mission accomplished," declared Max as he picked his daughter up from the bed.  
  
"Mission accomplished?" asked a still fuzzy-eyed Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
"Well, you were in such a deep sleep that we found it difficult to wake you. We had to have Exedore override the room protocols just to get inside. Something about resting in a manner of earth-lumber, as Max would say," replied Miriya.  
  
Max clutched his sides at Miriya's mistake and in truth, even Lisa-Minmei found it hard not to laugh.  
  
"The term, Miriya, is sleeping like a log," she half-laughingly corrected.  
  
"That's just it. Plants do not move on their own, much less hibernate so where's the sense in that phrase?" Miriya asked.  
  
"Okay honey, that's enough. I'll elaborate further once we're back on the surface. We'll meet you in the space-dock, Lisa," Max declared as he shooed a still perplexed Miriya out of the room while carrying Dana.  
  
"By the way, thanks for soothing Dana a while ago, Minmei. Your voice really does wonders with her. She was still fast asleep when we got back from the infirmary. I bet Rick will just love hearing about it," Max added.  
  
Lisa-Minmei looked at the trio as they exited from her room. Max, a veritech-wizard and his Zentraedi-wife who was the deadliest Quadrono pilot and their daughter, Dana: an odd mix indeed but one wherein the differences love did overcome. She wondered if the same love could overcome this problem she and Rick were in, this time. It certainly seemed that way that fateful day when Khyron attacked; Rick finally realized his emotions and requited her feelings for him.  
  
But she couldn't deny the strong feelings of rejection that the 'Minmei' part of her still felt. As far as she was concerned, Rick left her to be with another. After what they shared during Christmas Day, Rick still chose Lisa over her when Lisa revealed to him her feelings. But what was 'Minmei' to feel now, now that she and Lisa were one? The confused mix of emotions she felt during their first dinner after Khyron's attack was still fresh in her mind, especially when she learned that Rick kept Lisa waiting for him all day while he was with her. While people would see that it was 'Lisa' who they saw most of the time, 'Minmei' was still there in the background and she was a part of everything that happened. This was most obvious when Lisa-Minmei sang a lullaby for Dana. Up until that moment, she had let 'Lisa' take control as Lisa was coordinating the battle-plans with the RDF- defense fleet. Somehow, there seemed to be a silent agreement with her two sides that whoever was most effective in any given situation would take control. Most of the time, this system worked except when it came to Rick Hunter. When he was around, both of them were in the driver's seat and neither could tell where one began and the other ended. Lisa-Minmei decided not to give it any further thought for now as she made last minute inspections on what she was to bring. After she was satisfied, she proceeded to the space dock in order to board the flagship that would take her back to earth.  
  
Lisa-Minmei was surprised to see that she was to board a different ship and not Breetai's flagship. It turned out that part of the huge dock was damaged during the last skirmish and the flagship was too big to fit through. She and the others would be riding one of the smaller support cruisers similar to the one Khyron used. She was greeted by Dr. Hiroshi Ayase, one of the macronized human technicians as she made her way to the moving ramps.  
  
"Dr. Ayase-san. So, how does it feel to be a giant?" she asked.  
  
"Quite odd but good, actually. I had expected to suffer from perspective problems once I became this size but apparently, the whole Zentraedi- process makes the necessary mental and psychological adjustments so as to keep the subject stable. It seems that our initial concerns about macronization were unfounded. I submitted my report to Minister Exedore, and I requested that some of my colleagues undergo the process and join me here on the satellite. I trust he gave it to you?" Dr. Ayase asked.  
  
"Yes, he did so a while ago. I fully support your suggestion as well," Lisa- Minmei replied.  
  
"Arigato, Captain. Good luck on your return trip," Dr. Ayase added as he turned into a corridor while Lisa-Minmei proceeded to the ship.  
  
She was about to board the ship when she saw that there were two new additions to the escort-fleet. Apart from the combined New Vermillion and Green Squadrons, the battlepod/Quadrono complement included Lt. Adlea and Gela Parino's Quadrono as well. Once settled inside, she contacted Miriya's veritech and asked her about it.  
  
"Captain Hayes. Is there something I can help you with?" Miriya asked.  
  
"Yes, Miriya. Are your sisters joining us on earth? I saw their Quadronos with the Zentraedi portion of the escort-fleet," Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
"Indeed they are, Captain. They expressed wanting to know everything about micronian life so I suggested they join me and Max on earth," Miriya replied.  
  
"I see. I take it Max didn't have any objections about their joining you then?" Lisa-Minmei added.  
  
"None at all, though I did sense a bit of apprehension in him," Miriya answered.  
  
Lisa-Minmei left it at that and after a few take-off procedures, the cruiser was given clearance. She felt a slight jolt as the ship was freed from the gravity-anchors and fired it's smaller thrusters as it slowly made it's was towards the exit. Once in outer-space, it was joined by the escort fleet and it headed towards the earth. A few hours later, Lisa-Minmei felt the ship as it entered the earth's atmosphere. A few minutes later, she heard the voice of Major Alberto Del Fuego as his Blue Squadron met up with the ship and escort-fleet. They then landed on the temporary airstrip of the RDF. Once they were secure, Lisa-Minmei stood up, got her belongings and went to the exit. She was greeted by the warm sunlight and cool breeze as the bay doors opened. She recalled the memory of her first return to earth after spending two to three years in space being pursued by Breetai and his forces. 'Lisa' had made the trip in order to convince her father, Admiral Hayes and rest of the earth-based RDF top-brass to send reinforcements and allow the SDF-1 to return to earth. Her father was the first one to greet her that day; it was a bleak and windy that day. Now, the first person she saw was a young officer, a Corporal Jennifer Sanders whom Rick had instructed to meet her in order to inform her of how the three bridge-bunnies had been found and where they were currently. Cpl. Sanders was to take Lisa-Minmei to them immediately as he was still in the middle of the next class he was instructing. Lisa-Minmei was utterly surprised when Cpl. Sanders told her of what happened in the past few hours.  
  
"I can't believe it! So they're stable now?" Lisa-Minmei asked as they hurried in a jeep towards the hospital.  
  
"Yes, ma'am. They were found early this morning by the three micronized Zentraedi, Ensigns Rico, Bron, and Konda. Commanders Young, Porter and Leeds suffered nothing major save for a few bruises," replied Cpl. Sanders.  
  
They made it to the hospital in a few minutes and Lisa-Minmei all but ran towards the elevator, her way cleared by Cpl. Sanders who shouted to everyone who was blocking them. Upon reaching the ICU, Lisa-Minmei was surprised to see the three beds were already empty. An inquiry with the nurse on duty let her know that the three had been moved to new quarters as their condition improved quickly enough in order to be moved out of intensive-care. Lisa-Minmei made it to the room and she entered it slowly, expecting them to be still sleeping. She was surprised to see that they were awake and all three turned their attention to the door as they saw it open slowly. They were surprised to see a captain enter and all three did their best to salute the said officer.  
  
"At ease, ladies. My god, Vanessa, Kim, Sammie! You're all okay! Thank GOD!!" uttered Lisa-Minmei as she rushed to hug each of the obviously surprised women.  
  
"Uh, thanks ma'am but, who are you." was all that Kim could say as she saw the name on Lisa-Minmei's uniform. The three looked at Lisa-Minmei more closely and could not believe their eyes as what they saw and heard didn't quite match their last memory of Lisa Hayes.  
  
"Captain...Hayes?" all three said in unison.  
  
"In the flesh," answered Rick as he entered the room just a few minutes after Lisa-Minmei entered it. He rushed over to the hospital as soon as Cpl. Sanders informed him of Lisa-Minmei's arrival. He saw the surprised looks on the three womens' faces as he closed the door and had Lisa-Minmei sit on the guest chair. He then proceeded to recount the events of yesterday up until they were rescued by Rico, Bron and Konda. Rick noted how the three gazed back and forth from him to Lisa-Minmei as he went on with his story.  
  
"Those three guys saved us? Gee, I'll have to thank them once we're out of here," Kim declared.  
  
"So it's true then, you ARE Captain Hayes. Lisa!!!" all three questioned as Lisa-Minmei stood up in order to hug them once more.  
  
"I can't believe it but I guess there's no other way to explain it then. I mean, how does it feel?" asked Vanessa as she inspected Lisa-Minmei from head to toe.  
  
"I can't even begin to explain it, girls," Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
"I like her hair," Sammie stated as she touched Lisa-Minmei's ponytail.  
  
They were about to pepper her with more questions when Rick stood up and motioned them to calm down.  
  
"Alright, alright, girls. This is way too much activity for the three of you. The doctors strictly instructed not to get you girls too excited. We'll be back to elaborate as soon as you three are better. I suggest you three rest some more as Lisa has just returned from her own assignment form the factory satellite," Rick lectured.  
  
"Yes sir!" all three replied. They remained silent as the other two settled back into their beds when Sammie stopped and turned to face Rick and Lisa- Minmei again.  
  
"Er, Rick? What do you mean by 'we'?" Sammie asked.  
  
Rick only smiled a bit then turned to Lisa-Minmei, who took his hand and they exited the room hand-in-hand.  
  
"What?!!!! Lisa!!! Rick!!! No fair!!! Come back here this instant!!!" shouted the three as Rick noted the even bigger surprise on their faces as the full-implication of their action registered on the three.  
  
After laughing for a few minutes, Rick and Lisa-Minmei calmed down a bit and proceeded to exit the hospital.  
  
"That wasn't fair, Rick . They weren't done with what has happened to me and then you go bringing the house down on them," Lisa-Minmei scolded.  
  
"I wouldn't have traded anything in the world for the looks on those three's faces when they saw us. It was too precious!" Rick replied as he dodged Lisa-Minmei's attempt to pinch him.  
  
Rick calmed down a bit then turned his attention to Lisa-Minmei once more.  
  
"So how was your time at the satellite?" he asked.  
  
"You wouldn't believe what happened there," she replied.  
  
Lisa-Minmei went on to recount her experiences aboard the factory-satellite starting from their arrival until their departure for earth.  
  
"So we have new allies, huh? I knew there was a reason why there were two new Quadrono units with your escort-fleet. Miriya's sisters, you say?" Rick asked.  
  
Lisa-Minmei nodded and went on to explain how Max and Miriya found out about them and their subsequent alliance with Breetai's fleet. Rick was amazed at all that happened to Lisa-Minmei and could not help but look at her as they walked towards the parking area where Rick parked his jeep. He noted how animated she was compared to how 'Lisa' was before while she recounted her experiences. Even in an excited state, Lisa before was still quite calm. Minmei on the other hand, was bubbly when telling him anything about herself. Rick shrugged inwardly as he concluded that Lisa-Minmei was just that way now owing to the two women's differing natures, and he had to admit that he liked it.  
  
"Uh, Rick? Are you alright?" Lisa-Minmei asked as she noticed him staring at her for the past few minutes.  
  
"Oh, its nothing. I'm just really glad you're okay and that you're back," he replied, eliciting a softening in Lisa-Minmei's features.  
  
They were greeted by Cpl. Sanders who was waiting beside her own jeep. She gave both of them a crisp salute as they approached.  
  
"At ease, Corporal. You did a nice job getting Captain Hayes here," Rick praised as he opened his jeep's doors.  
  
"Just doing my duty, sir. I hope the three officers are alright," replied Cpl. Sanders.  
  
"Indeed, they are. I must say, you were quite effective in clearing a path for me when we got inside the hospital," Lisa-Minmei added.  
  
"Permission to speak freely, ma'am," Cpl. Sanders asked.  
  
Lisa-Minmei nodded and waited for her companion to carry on with her reply.  
  
"Most of the new doctors and staff are under my class in self-defense you see, so they know what would happen if they didn't get out of the way," stated Cpl. Sanders with a slight grin.  
  
Lisa-Minmei had to stifle a bit of laughter as she digested Cpl. Sanders reply.  
  
"No kidding. You should see her in action. She's managed to throw me a couple of times before I came up with a way to successfully counter it. Even the micronized Zentraedi admire her skills. This girl has even thought up a way to do a bit of martial arts in a zero-gravity environment," Rick related.  
  
"So, where are you off to now, Jen?" Rick asked.  
  
"I'm heading back to my quarters, sir. I've still got this afternoon's class to teach. With Lt. Cmdr. Sterling back, I'll be expecting a good workout. I look forward to it since her time is quite limited. I mean, Dana is a handful," Cpl. Sanders replied. Miriya was her favorite sparring partner as Max was simply too much. Moreso, sparring with Miriya gave Jennifer an insight to Zentraedi fighting-arts and she wanted to study these more closely.  
  
"Well, you're in for a treat later," Rick stated.  
  
Jennifer gave them an inquiring look as the two boarded Rick's jeep.  
  
"We found Miriya's sisters and they'll be joining her later," Lisa-Minmei explained as they drove off.  
  
The drive back to headquarters was a silent one, though Lisa-Minmei noted that Rick would steal glances at her every do often. She just gave him a soft smile. They headed for the cafeteria after they were parked. It was already 3pm so most of the usual retinue of patrons was gone now. Sgt. Bess McMillan saw him as he entered and she instructed her staff to prepare the selection Rick picked out from the menu. She then approached Rick and Lisa- Minmei.  
  
"Glad you made it, sir. I half expected you to call and cancel everything. We'll bring out the food shortly. You guys take your seats," said Bess who went back into the kitchen.  
  
"You actually made reservations, Rick?" Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
"Yes. I hope you're still hungry," Rick replied.  
  
She nodded in agreement. Rick went round and helped her into her seat before seating himself.  
  
"So, what about your day Rick? Care to share it with me?" Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
Rick shrugged before recounting his own experiences to Lisa-Minmei. She watched him as she saw his facial-expressions and hand-motions while he related his story. He was in the middle of telling her about the tech-crews progress with the various mecha when Bess and two waiters came out of the kitchen with the food Rick reserved: cream of mushroom soup, slightly- toasted buns, grilled tuna-belly, and white wine.  
  
"My-my, Rick, but isn't this a bit too much for a simple lunch?" Lisa- Minmei asked.  
  
"I believe it's more than appropriate. I mean, you did do something really noteworthy today, though heroic would be the best term if I were to ask Miriya," replied Rick.  
  
Lisa-Minmei gave him a curious look before she realized that Rick somehow knew something that she deliberately omitted when she told him of her time aboard the factory-satellite.  
  
"You know? How?" she asked.  
  
"Max told me all about it on the way to hospital. He and Miriya rode with me as he wanted a further inspection of Miriya's injuries. He told me about how Breetai broadcasted your lullaby to the enemy Zentraedi fleet," Rick explained.  
  
She was about say something when Bess emerged from the kitchen anew, bringing a bowl of what seemed to be a tropical-dessert. Lisa-Minmei knew what it was: pineapple-salad. Bess set it down on the cart then turned to say something to Lisa-Minmei.  
  
"That was a tiresome dish to make, let me tell you. But looking at the two of you, I'd say it was worth it. Rick, you're lucky she agreed to go on a date with you for the second time," Bess declared as she scooped up portions of the salad into separate bowls.  
  
"Second-time?" Lisa-Minmei and Rick asked in unison, both had stopped eating.  
  
"Yep. I mean, this girl waited all day for you at that outdoor café that time. And where were you? Of all places, with another girl in another city!" Bess scolded.  
  
Rick was so surprised that he dropped his fork. Looking back and forth at Lisa-Minmei and Bess he asked: "How'd you know that?"  
  
"I was head-waiter at the outdoor-café Captain Hayes chose to wait in for you. My uncle ran that restaurant you were in with your other date. Who was it then? Oh yeah: that big star, Lynn-Minmei. Good thing this girl here didn't leave. She waited all day! Well, you can't have both. Enjoy your meal, kids!" Bess stated as she made her way back into the kitchen.  
  
Rick was at a loss for words while Lisa-Minmei had stopped eating as well. The two could only look at each other and after a few seconds, Lisa-Minmei started giggling and then broke out into a full-blown laughter. Rick was curious as to why though he was smiling as well.  
  
"Who would've thought? Oh, but the look on your face was too precious, Rick. Even better than what the bridge-bunnies had when they saw us holding hands. So that's why Bess looked familiar when we got here. I guess I was just too busy convincing myself of reasons why you were late to notice her back then. Don't look so guilty, Rick. This only confirms what I already know, I mean you wore her..er..MY scarf when you did show up," Lisa-Minmei chided.  
  
Rick couldn't think of a clever retort, though he wasn't really feeling bad at all. In fact, Rick felt good in a way. Just seeing Lisa-Minmei laugh like that made him think of that time and how he would've wanted to make up to Lisa. The only snag was that he was dating the two women right now, albeit in a different manner. 


	6. Fusion 6

Fusion 6  
  
"Just what is it with meals that get me? I mean, every single time!" Rick remarked with mock-irritation.  
  
True enough, it seemed that every time he and Lisa-Minmei shared one, some aspect of their past would always turn up and more often than not, it would be something that put him in an odd light. But Rick didn't actually mind much. Seeing Lisa-Minmei's amusement over him made all the embarrassment seem worthwhile. But Rick didn't ignore the fact that he remained safe from either woman's ire due to their being merged. It was the one sobering aspect that kept him from enjoying himself too much whenever they were together. He could only imagine what 'Lisa' would've said if she alone learned of the full extent of Rick's activities with Minmei during that fateful day when they were supposed to go for a picnic. Rick then chuckled slightly to himself as his thoughts grazed upon the possibilities if he chose to tell Bess about Lisa-Minmei's current predicament. He chose not to of course, as in all likelihood Bess would still berate him on the fact that he was getting away with double-timing the two women scot-free though such was not intentional on his part.  
  
"And what seems to be so funny, Mr. Hunter? Care to let me in on it?" Lisa- Minmei asked as Bess left the table.  
  
"Nothing, really; it's just that I know Bess wouldn't understand the whole thing even if I explained it to her," Rick replied, as he looked towards Bess as she entered the kitchen, his smile fading a bit.  
  
"What would she NOT understand, Rick?" Lisa-Minmei pressed further.  
  
"A lot. I mean, how would she take it if she learned that the woman I spent the whole day with and the woman I kept waiting at her café are now one and the same? She may have concluded that since you're wearing your uniform, you're Capt. Hayes. She's not aware of the fact that you're Minmei as well," Rick replied as his tone went a notch lower, indicating his uneasiness on the topic.  
  
Lisa-Minmei on the other hand, saw Rick's discomfort and chose to change the topic of their conversation. She actually wanted to press on with it and ask Rick about what he actually felt now especially with her predicament. Rick beat her to the punch when he asked her another question.  
  
"You like the food?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, I do Rick. Like I said a while ago, the menu seems a little posh for a simple lunch," she replied.  
  
"It's not special enough for someone who deserves more, in my opinion," Rick replied smugly.  
  
Lisa-Minmei was touched even more by his reply. While she could tell that he was yet to sort his own feelings out, he WAS at least sure about one thing: that for him, she was very special. The rest of the meal passed by almost wordlessly with only a few remarks from either of them. Rick surprised her with his concern as he wiped an errant morsel from the corner of her mouth as she was praising Bess' culinary skills.  
  
"When did he learn to be so thoughtful?" Lisa-Minmei asked herself, obviously touched deeply by Rick's act.  
  
When they were done, Rick called for Bess in order to pay for his tab.  
  
"Done already? Well I hope you people liked the food. I must admit it was rather special but then again, I was only following orders. I hope your fly- boy her was able to make up for his making you wait back then. You both take care now!" Bess chided as she said farewell while Rick and Lisa-Minmei stood up in order to leave.  
  
"By the way Captain, kindly remind Commander Sterling about his tab. It's getting quite high," Bess added.  
  
Rick groaned as he thought about Max while Lisa-Minmei chided him about it. They proceeded to the jeep and drove off.  
  
Along the way, Rick noticed that the damaged shelters were yet to be repaired as most of the crew was focused on other pressing matters. He groaned inwardly as this meant that Lisa-Minmei would have to stay with him longer. It wasn't because he didn't like the idea at all; in fact he wanted to suggest it to Lisa when things quieted down after Khyron's attack. But that was just it: he wanted to be with "Lisa", not Minmei. Not that he didn't like Minmei anymore but as far as he was concerned, he had already made his choice. He could probably withstand the sight of a Minmei wordlessly reproaching him yet wanting him back if ever they met in the future but this woman beside him destroyed all his initial apprehensions and concerns, only to replace them with new ones.  
  
"A penny for your thoughts, Rick?" Lisa-Minmei asked as she noticed him brooding somewhat. She swore Rick was quite surprised when she asked him but he was able to make a save nonetheless.  
  
"Gee, is that all they're worth? I guess I'll have to charge you extra since I'm thinking of a lot," Rick jokingly replied as he did not want to discuss these things with her yet. Lisa-Minmei smiled at his reply and shifted her attention elsewhere.  
  
They got home after a few minutes more of driving. Rick proceeded to drop down unceremoniously on the couch while Lisa-Minmei went to the kitchen in order to store the leftovers from their lunch. She heard the TV blare into life as Rick undoubtedly wanted to view the days' events. It was the usual fare of recapping the last salvage operations at Lake Gloval and morale- boosting propaganda of the RDF. She knew that Rick was usually against the whole idea ordinarily but seeing as the recent events were so taxing on everyone, he himself suggested it, albeit half-heartedly and with a few major alterations. Lisa-Minmei then heard herself singing, rather, a re- airing of her singing in the battle with Dolza and a few others of her songs that had a similar flavor as the RDF-network were banking on these and on her fame in order to prevent unrest from the general populace. She noted with a bit of sadness that even the humans now were suffering a similar fate as the disgruntled Zentrans were prior to Khyron's blitzkrieg.  
  
Both she and Rick were rapt in their respective activities when they heard the phone ring. Rick was nearer so he got to answer it. Lisa-Minmei heard him mumble then the audible click as he put the phone down.  
  
"Who was it, Rick?" Lisa-Minmei asked as she reappeared from the kitchen.  
  
"It was Major Caulkin, reminding me of the meeting tomorrow," Rick replied as he switched off the TV, apparently having lost interest in whatever he was watching a few minutes ago. He stood up and went up to the bedroom in order to change.  
  
"I guess they think I'll forget about it. Those guys just don't trust anyone. I'll change into something more comfortable. This uniform is getting really stuffy," Rick stated.  
  
Lisa-Minmei looked on for a while as he disappeared from view then went back into the kitchen. It was still about two hours before dinnertime so she decided to take a nap as all she needed to do for dinner was reheat the leftovers since Rick hadn't been to the grocer's yet. Lisa-Minmei recalled that his cupboard was almost bare the last time she was working in the kitchen. It now struck her that major moments in their relationship revolved around meals; good or bad, it almost always happened during such times. They were actually getting ready for breakfast the day that Khyron staged his suicidal attack on the battle fortresses. And it was during a Christmas dinner the night before that she (Minmei) kissed Rick voluntarily. Lisa-Minmei just sighed to herself as she settled into the easy-chair. As Rick got down, he noticed that Lisa-Minmei had fallen asleep on the easy-chair. He retrieved a small blanket from the bedroom in order to cover her. He was about to do so when he stopped in order to look at Lisa-Minmei closely. Indeed, the features of both women had blended so well into one and even as Rick noted a facial feature that was Lisa's originally, he also noticed a feature here and there that was Minmei's. All in all, it was a breathtakingly beautiful sight. Rick still felt like he was cheating on both women albeit, in an odd way but he ignored this notion for now as he focused on taking care of Lisa-Minmei for now.  
  
The phone rang and Rick picked it up immediately since he didn't want the incessant ringing to disturb Lisa-Minmei's nap.  
  
"Hunter here, who's this please? Oh Max. How's things?" Rick asked.  
  
"I don't know; you tell me. I mean, how in the world am I to deal with 2 more Miriyas here?!!" Max replied with a bit of agitation in his voice.  
  
"Hey-hey, may I remind you that you ALSO accepted their staying with you while they're here on earth?" Rick replied.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just kidding Rick. Things are quite well over here as far as 'well' goes. Miriya's showing her sisters everything and those 2 can't seem to get enough of 'micronian-culture' as they put it," Max added.  
  
"I bet. You wait until they find out about dresses, make-up and all that other stuff. Zentraedi or not, women love to be pampered and dolled-up. I can only imagine the havoc it'll wreak on your expenses," Rick added jokingly.  
  
"Don't remind me Rick, anyway, I'm outta here. I'm due at the gym to give a self-defense lesson to the cadets. Call you later," said Max as he hung up the phone.  
  
"I guess I'm not the only one with woman-problems here," Rick thought as he tried to picture Max with the 3 Zentraedi women on a shopping spree.  
  
Rick recalled Cpl. Sanders mentioning that Max and Miriya were involved in training the incoming batch of cadets. At least now, they would be better trained with those 2 heading the program. Among the batch that Rick himself was part of, more than half were dead now owing to the fact that their training was more of a crash-course rather than a formal one. Rick's survival was mostly due to the fact that he was already an airshow ace prior to enlisting in the RDF. Max on the other hand was a genius so between the 2 of them, they could survive lower-level skirmishes despite overwhelming odds. Still, having 80% of the fighter complements dead was a very sobering fact which showed glaringly the dismal state of the RDF's training program. It wasn't only this aspect of the RDF that needed a shot in the arm, but the whole RDF. Earth's forces needed a leader that understood every aspect of battle and war and all its aspects yet still remain in touch with the forces. He was thinking of who to suggest but each and every candidate he thought of were dead while the remaining ones were unfit for it as far as he was concerned. Roy Fokker would've been a very good leader had he survived. These thoughts coursed through Rick's mind as he went into the kitchen for a glass of water. Little did he know that tomorrow's meeting with the top officials would throw him into even more unfamiliar waters.  
  
Meanwhile, Lisa-Minmei was having a dream while she napped on the easy- chair. The Minmei part of her was reliving the Christmas dinner that she and Rick shared. In it, she had just finished all the meal-preparations when she heard the door open. She headed towards it, expecting Rick to walk in. But it was Lisa who walked in wearing ordinary clothes with an apron on top of it, a grave look on her face which was rather unsettling. With a wave of her hand, Lisa made everything disappear and Rick's apartment was once again bare, as it would've looked after Lisa tidied up everything. In fact, Rick's apartment appeared in both women's dreams the way they last saw it in real life. The difference lay in the fact that Minmei dreamt of it as she wanted it to be: hers and hers alone thus, the idyllic Christmas dinner scene as opposed to Lisa's Spartan-recollection. Both women were actually dreaming lucidly save for the fact that Minmei was more in denial of what and how things really were. Lisa's dream was more or less a representation of her perception given her military upbringing. So Minmei's poster was there in her version of Rick's apartment: right-side-up.  
  
Minmei tried to reassert her idea while Lisa did the same. The whole apartment seemed to coalesce and shift at the same time and in the end, it was split in half, one of Minmei recollection while the other of Lisa's.  
  
"He was already mine, you know," Lisa declared.  
  
"You took him from me! He wanted to have a peaceful life with me but you had to come along and tell him how you felt! What gave you the right to do that?" Minmei retorted.  
  
"I never made him choose! He did that of his own accord, Minmei! All I wanted to do was to tell him and leave. I thought he already made his choice by staying with you," Lisa replied.  
  
Minmei could form a reply to that last sentence. By now, more and more of Lisa's memories were opened up to her and vice-versa so she knew how Lisa felt when she saw Rick and Minmei together on that Christmas Day. True, it seemed that Rick did choose her already but then again, this was most likely because he thought he wasn't given a choice in the matter anyway. For all he knew, Lisa was lost to him already. But when he was faced with the knowledge of Lisa's true feelings, he could not deny that he felt the same way for her and that his strong infatuation with Minmei had lost magnitude. Slowly, the apartment shifted into one uniform appearance: that of Lisa's making. Minmei could argue no longer and thus her own idea dissipated. Lisa was about to walk out of the apartment in their dream when she stopped before opening the door.  
  
"I don't know about you but if in case we never get to rectify this situation, you and I should have a long discussion as to how we'll both live. By the way, dinnertime's getting near so I suggest we wake up unless you want me to do all the cooking," Lisa declared as she opened the door.  
  
Minmei was about to reply when she saw that her poster remained intact on the wall that Rick posted it. "What does that mean?" Minmei thought. If this scene was all Lisa's idea then why was her poster still there and right side up this time? The real one was upside down when she saw it that day she came to Rick and since he had no idea how it got that way, she never knew as well until now. While she wasn't about to give up, Minmei knew that any further discussion about their situation would have to wait. A sneaky idea came to her as Lisa was about to exit the room.  
  
"Well I know he prefers kissing me," Minmei declared.  
  
Lisa stopped on her way out and stood still for a while.  
  
"You think so? You might be disappointed, Minmei," Lisa replied.  
  
"I know so," Minmei replied.  
  
"Then let's find out," Lisa said as she went out the door while Minmei rushed to follow.  
  
Back in the waking world, Rick was still looking at Lisa-Minmei closely as she slept. He was about to stand up when he saw her open her eyes. These locked onto his eyes as well and she smiled. What was surprising was that Rick saw only Lisa's eyes that time.  
  
"And what have you been doing there all this time, Mr. Hunter? Ogling a woman in her sleep?" she teased.  
  
Rick was about to reply when she suddenly put her arms around him and kissed him deeply. Rick's initial surprise was heightened when he felt something else as they deepened their kiss: it was as if he was kissing another woman again. Rick distinctly recalled how Minmei and Lisa's kisses felt and it was quite unnerving to feel them separately even as the 2 were merged. Little did he know that in Lisa-Minmei's mind, they were registering his reactions.  
  
"See? I told you he prefers mine," Minmei declared.  
  
"Uh-uh, it's too early to tell," Lisa replied.  
  
Rick was still dumbfounded as Lisa-Minmei broke their kiss.  
  
"How'd you like that Rick?" she asked.  
  
Rick was even more awestruck as he saw Lisa-Minmei's eyes change again this time, into Minmei's eyes. He then realized that the 2 women were testing him so he came up with a clever reply.  
  
"I don't know. I'll need to sample the wares again if I'm to form an opinion as to which is better," Rick replied.  
  
Lisa-Minmei obliged but this time, both women kissed him at the same time. The whole thing was too much for Rick for this was the first time he kissed Lisa-Minmei as one and as they broke their kiss, Rick's pulse rate was racing and he was quite dazed. The whole thing wasn't lost on Lisa-Minmei and she had to smile at what she saw. She then stood up and stretched out.  
  
"I guess I'd better get dinner ready. I hope you don't mind restaurant leftovers, Rick," Lisa-Minmei stated.  
  
Rick could only smile and shake his head as he observed Lisa-Minmei go into the kitchen. He could never really figure either woman out initially and was about to focus his attention on just one and now this predicament left him in the dark even more.  
  
As they ate, Lisa-Minmei decided to strike up a bit of conversation.  
  
"I really wonder what that meeting tomorrow will be about. I hope they'll address some key issues," she began.  
  
"I hope they do. I suspect that they'll be promoting a few people to key positions as well. Who knows? Maybe you and I will be among them," Rick replied.  
  
"Me? I highly doubt that, Rick. Given my current situation, I believe Maistroff and the others are dancing in joy at the fact that my career is somewhat on temporary hold," Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
"I know. But if there's any officer that should be promoted right now, it should be you. I mean, no one is more deserving than you," Rick added.  
  
"Thanks, Rick. I'm happy you feel that way," Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
Rick just smiled at Lisa-Minmei's reply and continued with dinner. He helped put away the dishes after they finished and noted how she was used to managing the kitchen.  
  
"Did you always do this while I was away, Captain?" Rick teased.  
  
"As a matter of fact, I did, Rick. Your apartment was always a mess whenever I inspected it. A virtual sty!" Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
Rick looked at her incredulously.  
  
"Like a pig-sty? Really? I always make it a point to tidy things up the best I can everyday. How can you say it was like that?" Rick queried.  
  
"You tell me, Rick. Dishes and food scattered all around, pillows on the floor, blankets tangled on the bed, it's like a tornado hit your place," Lisa-Minmei replied.  
  
Rick stared at her blankly for a few seconds, and then his expression changed ever so slowly as realization dawned on him. He let out a few hearty laughs as all was made clear to him.  
  
"Sterling," Rick declared.  
  
"Max? What has he got to do with it?" Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
Rick explained that his quarters were nearer to headquarters so he allowed Max to use his place whenever his mission hours were too close together. Little did he know that when he said Max could crash into the place anytime, he literally did just that. Lisa-Minmei could hardly contain her laughter at Rick's revelation. She then chided him after that for rendering all her efforts useless.  
  
"No wonder you never showed any appreciation for my efforts. And all the while I thought you were being an ingrate or was being insensitive. Who'd have thought that you let Max use your place? No wonder it always looked lived-in whenever I came by," Lisa-Minmei stated, with a mix of relief, realization and mirth.  
  
"Yep. I suspect he also brought Miriya here every once in a while especially since our missions got varied after he was promoted too. I know now that the bridge-bunnies weren't kidding when I overheard them talking about how you often took care of this place when I was away. Thanks a lot, Lis-er---Min., well, thanks a lot," said Rick who faltered a bit since he was thanking Lisa specifically.  
  
Lisa-Minmei just smiled at him though a bit weakly since 'Minmei' couldn't actually share in their joy immediately. This was an experience which Rick shared with Lisa and Lisa alone. The most she did for him was during that Christmas dinner they had and even then, this experience was too short- lived in comparison to what Lisa shared with Rick. Minmei also recalled the time when she and Rick were trapped in the holds of the SDF-1 but even then, it was Rick who eventually cooked the head of tuna.  
  
After everything was tidied up, Lisa-Minmei went upstairs in order to shower and eventually turn in for the night. Rick watched a bit more TV but soon went up as well after he heard Lisa-Minmei exiting from the bathroom, signifying that she was done.  
  
A quick shower and Rick was done as well. He saw that Lisa-Minmei was in the bed already as he started his night-time limbering.  
  
"You always do that before bed, Rick?" she asked as she observed him going through the motions of what looked like a blend of tai-chi, slow calisthenics and a few martial-arts moves.  
  
"Yes. It helps me a lot especially after a long day or a grueling mission. Big-brother taught me how," Rick replied.  
  
"I see," she replied.  
  
"It helps a lot especially since it stretches me out and helps me work out my kinks and exhaustion. I don't shift much in bed when I fall asleep so I often woke up sore when I did so in the wrong way," Rick elaborated further.  
  
"I guess I would've benefited from those exercises had I known how to do them. You can only imagine how much stress you gave me during those missions, not to mention the sass," Lisa-Minmei remarked.  
  
Rick had to stop his routine at Lisa-Minmei's last remark. He looked at her long and hard until she buckled and started laughing really hard at him. She did so for the next few minutes until her laughter simmered down to a few giggles.  
  
"Oh I'm sorry, Rick. But I had to do that just to see the look on your face. I swear, that was one of the fastest shifts in facial expression I've ever seen," Lisa-Minmei stated.  
  
Rick couldn't bring himself to be upset though, since he knew all too well how true her statement was as far as he was concerned. Though his judgement more often than not, proved to be the sounder, the fact remained that he was quite insubordinate in doing so. He recalled overhearing Roy and Claudia discuss him and how he was frustrating Lisa with his lack of decorum during his first few missions as a wingman. There were of course, many more incidents that followed but the most vivid for him were two distinct instances where Lisa gave more or less the same order but for drastically different reasons. The first was when he saved her at Mars Base Sara and the other was when he saved her at the Grand Cannon Installation in Alaska. In both events, he went directly against her orders but got different reactions from her: at Mars, she was angry at him but in Alaska she was elated.  
  
"I'm sorry CAPTAIN, I wasn't aware that you felt that way but I guess I deserve it," Rick mockingly replied.  
  
"But I promise I'll do my best to make sure that there won't be any future incidents like those. God knows how much you've been through and I wouldn't want to add to that," Rick added but with more honesty than his last statement.  
  
Lisa-Minmei was touched by last statement and her giggling died down.  
  
"Thanks, Rick. I really appreciate that," she replied.  
  
Rick gave her a small smile then proceeded to finish his exercises. He was about to get his pillows and the extra blanket when Lisa-Minmei held his arm and gave him a slightly pleading look, signifying that she still wasn't ready to sleep alone as she was scared of her nightmares. They settled into the bed and Rick reached over to turn off the lights, giving one last statement as he did so.  
  
"Anyway, it's not like I'll be outranking you anytime soon. But if that happens, then YOU get to frustrate me with being insubordinate and sassy, eh?" Rick stated as Lisa-Minmei elbowed him. Little did he know that the following day would throw him for another loop.  
  
Rick left early that day and headed for headquarters for the meeting. Lisa- Minmei opted to stay behind as she knew that her presence would be redundant and decided to oversee the ongoing restorations. Rick dropped her off at Mayor Tommy Luan's house a few minutes ago. Upon arriving, he handed the jeep over to a junior officer so that he could proceed straight to the ready room. He was greeted by the sight and sounds over Col. Maistroff and his staff arguing with Breetai and Exedore. Rick wondered how Breetai could be inside unless he was micronized but upon opening the door, saw that Breetai joined the meeting through video-conference.  
  
"Ah, Captain Hunter. I'm glad you made it. Come in. We were just wrapping things up," Breetai declared even as Rick saw that Col. Maistroff's face was quite red.  
  
"Captain Hunter reporting as ordered, sir! If I may ask, what decision has the board reached?" Rick asked as he settled into his seat.  
  
"As you well know, most of the senior officials from both the RDF and Zentraedi fleet were killed in action or missing. Though searches are still being conducted, it seems highly unlikely that any survivors will be found especially with the RDF whose officials were mostly in Alaska's Grand Cannon Installation. While Col. Maistroff, Major Edwards and Cmdr. Leonard are more than qualified and able officers, their time is also taken up with various duties and as such, are stretching themselves too thinly. An officer needs to fill up the space in the chain of command," Exedore explained.  
  
"The division most in need of a head-officer is that of the expeditionary fighting forces, which was Admiral Gloval's position then. We have studied the various candidates for this position and we've come up with one name that suits the description best. We could not get an officer who stayed on earth even if he had the rank as he wouldn't be aware of the whole situation in space neither could we get a Zentraedi who also would've been qualified since he wouldn't be aware of earth-politics and there's still resistance in accepting them with some factions here," Exedore added. He then shifted and motioned for Rick to direct his attention to Breetai's image on the screen.  
  
"We have decided that best candidate for this is you, Captain Hunter. You will take Admiral Gloval's vacant position as head of the newly formed Robotech Expeditionary Forces. Your counterpart in the RDF is Col. Maistroff who effective today, is promoted to the same rank as Rear Admiral. I extend to both of you my congratulations," Breetai finished.  
  
Rick was still quite dazed as various members of the staff went over to him and congratulated him as well. Last night's conversation with Lisa-Minmei was still fresh in his mind and he didn't know how to break the news to her. He was cut from his catatonic-state by Exedore who went to him after the others were done.  
  
"Congratulations, Captain Hunter. I believe, this is one of the fastest promotions to be ever given if I am to base it on your planet's military history. But I know you're more than up to the task for it," Exedore declared as he motioned for his aide to hand over Rick's additional bars and stripes.  
  
Rick was about to sit down when he locked gazes with Maistroff gave him congratulating look as well but he knew that this was just a façade for underneath that look was a huge feeling of irritation as being only of the same rank meant that they would be at loggerheads over issues more often than not.  
  
There wasn't much to do after the discussions over the newly formed REF were done. As it stood, Rick had a free hand in choosing his future staff and he knew he needed help in the matter. So the new rear admiral headed home to the very person who could help him make heads or tails of the whole issue: Lisa-Minmei. 


	7. Fusion 7

CHAPTER 7  
  
Lisa-Minmei had just finished tidying up Rick's quarters when she heard his jeep pulling up to the curb. She was anxious to know how the morning's meeting with the various leaders had gone and each minute that passed by was like a day for that part of her which was still an officer. She still wondered why Lord Breetai, Col. Maistroff, et al did not ask her to be part of the discussion even if her position there would've been nominal only.  
  
She was about to turn and head into the kitchen when she heard another voice that wasn't Rick's which, she assumed, belonged to an officer who may have accompanied him.  
  
"Well here we are, sir. I'll be heading back to headquarters so if there's anything you need, just let me know. I'll have them deliver the package later," said the officer as he gave Rick a crisp salute then boarded the jeep.  
  
"Package?" Lisa-Minmei wondered as she looked out the window and espied the epaulets on the officer's uniform as the jeep backed out of the curb. He was a Major already, thus would've outranked Rick so his addressing him in a subordinate manner was unusual. Lisa-Minmei felt highly curious but decided to contain it and composed herself, straightening her clothes so as not to betray her suspicions.  
  
Rick on the other hand, stood still in front of the door. He was yet to formulate an explanation for the whole "promotion-thing" as he'd call it and he didn't know how Lisa-Minmei would react. The "Minmei" in her would've jumped for joy over it then cry later as it would've taken him away on further missions while the "Lisa" in her would've congratulated him while feeling a bit envious as he now outranked her. Again, Rick knew that the woman inside his quarters would hover between both reactions.  
  
"Damn. I guess there's no other way but go inside. Here goes.," Rick muttered to himself as he turned the knob and opened the door.  
  
Lisa-Minmei had her back to the door as she pretended to straighten the furniture which been straightened several times in the past five minutes. She turned around as Rick came in.  
  
"I'm home!" Rick declared.  
  
Lisa-Minmei turned to face him and she saw what confirmed her suspicions: Rick's uniform looked the same save for a couple of bars that she knew weren't there when he left this morning. The number and material used meant only one thing: Rick was now a Rear Admiral.  
  
"Uh., Hi there. Well, what do you think?" Rick gently asked as he stood in front of Lisa-Minmei, showing her his uniform's new bars.  
  
Rick was expecting the worst when Lisa-Minmei suddenly rushed to his side and embraced him as she buried her face into his shoulder.  
  
"Congratulations, Rick! I knew it! I just knew it! They DID promote you!" she ecstatically declared. She would've rambled on if Rick did not take her face into his hands and gently kissed her forehead. He gently took both of her hands into his as he led her to the sofa.  
  
"It was much a surprise for me too, you know. The meeting was well underway by the time I got there but it didn't seem to matter to them," Rick began as he told Lisa-Minmei of this morning's meeting.  
  
He went on to tell her about Col. Maistroff's silent but highly palpable objections to the final decisions that the council agreed upon. Rick knew that Maistroff and co. would soon be formulating strategies that would slowly but surely ease him out but Rick had half of the remaining Earth RDF Council on his side, not to mention the whole Zentraedi Council headed by Breetai.  
  
"I bet Maistroff's not voicing his objection to your promotion was the fact that he was promoted to the same rank as well. But I have to admit that your promotion was the more dramatic than his as you jumped a number of ranks," Lisa-Minmei enthused.  
  
Rick went on to tell her about the rest of the morning, mentioning how Breetai congratulated him curtly but meaningfully albeit through video- feed. He went silent after a while which prompted Lisa-Minmei to ask him why.  
  
"Anything the matter, Rick? You were telling me how you picked up your bars first," Lisa-Minmei asked.  
  
Rick looked at her for a few seconds, then let out an audible sigh as he steeled himself and proceeded to ask Lisa-Minmei.  
  
"How do you feel about my whole promotion?" he asked.  
  
"What do you mean by that, Rick? I'm., happy about it, of course. I mean, who wouldn't be? Imagine: you went from being Flight Captain to Rear Admiral.." she eagerly replied though the eagerness faded midway in her sentence.  
  
Her enthusiasm was short-lived as she knew what Rick's question meant and she had to look away from him slowly.  
  
The whole moment would've dragged on if not for the sudden ringing of the phone which gave Rick the opportunity to break away from the tension.  
  
Lisa-Minmei looked at Rick as he was talking to the other party on the phone. She pondered the full implications of Rick's sudden promotion on her. She may have been happy for him but the part of her that was Lisa felt chagrin at the fact that he now outranked her and he did so in record time. She wanted to be the first to do so and there were many she recalled, who stated that she would do just that, given her stellar performance at the academy.  
  
The next few days were almost ordinary save for the added schedule of meetings that Rick now had to attend due to his promotion. The existing fighter complement was in shambles after the last battle with Khyron so Rick set upon a massive rehabilitation plan for it. A few more scientists, engineers and technicians were sent to the factory-satellite so that these could study the facilities and possibly set up something similar planetside. Lisa-Minmei wasn't left vacant as Rick appointed her and former Macross City mayor Tommy Luan as supervisors for reconstruction of civilian residences and restoration of basic utilities such as electricity, gas and water.  
  
Lisa-Minmei decided to work from home today as she had done all that she could and left the rest to Mr. Luan, advising him to call her immediately should she be needed. She had finished preparing lunch and was expecting Rick back from a meeting with Exedore. As she waited, she noted how things were much different now compared to her usual routine just a few scant weeks ago. She was amazed and proud of Rick at his adaptation to his new rank and the duties that came with it. Their arguments over the tac net came to her mind and she laughed softly at the memory.  
  
"And now the bratty pilot is now an officer. An admiral too, to boot!" she thought to herself.  
  
Rick arrived an hour later.  
  
"Hey there!" Rick greeted as he entered, took off his coat and headed for the kitchen. "Anything good to eat?" he asked as he opened the lid of a pot and inhaled the wonderful aroma of beef strips with asparagus while the other pan had stir-fried noodles. An ecletic mix again from Lisa-Minmei but still delicious nonetheless.  
  
"So how's things at headquarters, Rick?" Lisa-Minmei began.  
  
Rick started telling her about how a lot had been accomplished these past few days and how much was still needed to be done.  
  
"I remember the first time the SDF-1 executed a reconfiguration; the amount of work was sheer madness, not to mention the engineering solutions we had to come up with just to make things modular," Rick stated.  
  
"I know, Rick. I remember it, too," Lisa-Minmei added. She was about to say more when the phone rang and Rick got up to get it. She noted how even his stride and carriage was more refined now and compared it to how Rick was when he first got promoted where he got Max Sterling and Ben Dixon as his wingmen.  
  
She was still in the middle of her recollection when she heard Rick put the phone down. She saw him turn to her, with his face slightly blanched; as if he'd seen a ghost.  
  
"Why? What is it Rick?" she asked as she noted the color coming back to Rick's face.  
  
"Better suit up. We need to be at the airstrip in 15 minutes," Rick replied.  
  
"Us? At the airstrip? Why?" she asked further.  
  
"That was Max on the other line just now. His search and rescue operations team found a few survivors near Alaska," Rick answered.  
  
"Alaska?" Lisa-Minmei gasped.  
  
"Yes, a few kilometers from the Grand Cannon installation, not far from where I rescued you the last time. Seems like there were 3 functional rescue pods in an area of the base which the teams didn't know existed before. All 3 survivors are onboard the plane heading here. Lisa, one of them is Admiral Hayes," Rick replied.  
  
Lisa-Minmei gasped at Rick's last sentence. Her father or at least, Lisa's father was still alive.  
  
The part of her that was Minmei withdrew for a while as she noted the flurry of activity that ensued. A quick shower, her best uniform, and most everything that Lisa would need were soon decked out on the bed. Rick on the other hand was on the phone again, requesting for a speedy vehicle and escort so their way to the airstrip would not be hampered. She had to smile a bit at Rick's being unaccustomed to the privileges that came with his newfound rank as he wasn't one who usually pulled rank on his subordinates. She also noted that Rick addressed her as "Lisa" only a while ago. She accepted this as this new development would have more impact on Lisa than on "her". 


	8. Fusion 8

Chapter 8  
  
"Admiral Hunter, sir? I'd just like to inform you that Commander Sterling and his team just contacted us. They'll be touching down with the med-plane in half an hour. I'll be back to inform you as soon as they've landed," an officer informed Rick who by then had fallen asleep in the officers' lounge with Lisa-Minmei still sleeping with her head resting on his shoulders.  
  
"Okay. Thanks!" Rick replied as he winced a bit. His left shoulder had already lost sensation after being used as a pillow for more than an hour.  
  
"Oh well, at least it's my left shoulder this time," Rick thought to himself as he shifted position ever so slowly and gently so as not to wake Lisa-Minmei.  
  
Rick smiled and sighed as he removed a stray forelock of Lisa-Minmei's hair which had been covering her left eye. The darker shade of brown still amazed him as he observed her while she slept. It was a perfect mix of the two womens' hair: Lisa's brown and Minmei's black. He noted how Lisa- Minmei's brow's were slightly creased as she slept, betraying the uneasiness and anxiety she felt over seeing her father again. Indeed, even Rick thought that Admiral Hayes had perished that fateful day after they had fired the Grand Cannon. It was only good for one shot though, and the whole super-structure collapsed in upon itself but not after decimating a portion of Dolza's fleet.  
  
For Rick, it was a miracle that the section where Lisa was in remained intact long enough for him to rescue her. No one would've expected more survivors from the installation after seeing it in its present state. Rick had been the one occasionally heading the salvage team prior to his promotion and he had to let Max handle it as his duties as Rear Admiral entailed much higher and wider scope of priorities.  
  
"A sword that wounds its wielder even when used properly..." Rick thought to himself as he pondered about his new rank.  
  
He knew that sorties and missions onboard a veritech would get rarer almost immediately and if the top officials had their way, would disappear entirely from his itinerary. However, his performance records with such a machine and his position as head of the EXPEDITIONARY fleet gave him more leeway with missions. Rick wanted a more "hands-on" approach with his position as opposed to Maistroff's desktop preferences.  
  
A part of him still wanted to reject the promotion, actually. But as he observed Lisa-Minmei sleeping beside him (or rather on top of him as evidenced by the steadily-growing numbness in his shoulder), he was glad for her sake that the position was given to him at this time rather than to her. He remembered how sad Lisa was a few days after he rescued her from Alaska Base. She admitted that she and her father were at loggerheads when it came to dealing with the Zentraedi but such conflict was confined to professional matters alone. They still loved each other very much and the pain of Admiral Hayes death was greater since he was the only family Lisa had.  
  
But if there was one thing good that did come out from Admiral Hayes death, it would be the fact that it enabled Rick to see beyond Lisa's harshness and ultra-professional attitude. There weren't many instances that he saw how human she was underneath all that but when it came to her father, Rick could read her like an open book. He decided back then to help her cope with the loss of her father at least and though it took some time, Lisa was able to recover a bit faster than she normally would had Rick left her alone.  
  
So now with the confirmation that Admiral Hayes was actually alive, things were again topsy-turvy. "Lisa" alone could've probably adjusted almost immediately but that simply was not the case. She was yet to deal with the "merger" and now this factor was added to the already chaotic situation.  
  
"I hope she can deal with the situation, though. I really wish I could have my arm back," Rick thought as Lisa-Minmei snuggled closer to him, further immobilizing his left arm and shoulder as she slept.  
  
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo  
  
Meanwhile, Lt.Cmdr Max Sterling and his team were having some difficulty escorting the med-plane back to base. They had encountered a freak snowstorm while flying over what used to be the US-Canadian border. Dolza's bombardment not only wreaked havoc over the landscape but also on the weather-patterns. Mountain-ranges that once stood as natural barriers to wind currents were leveled to mere hillocks while valleys and gorges were more or less filled-in with debris. As such, Max and his team were caught unawares by the snowstorm.  
  
"Give me the situation of the med-plane, Cpl. Sanchez," Max ordered the pilot.  
  
"We're fine, sir. She can handle storms much worse than these. The survivors are okay. I wish we brought the "med-goose", sir. Those additional motion-dampeners would be a big plus in evac- transports like these," replied Cpl. Sanchez who was an experienced rescue-pilot prior to his enlistment.  
  
The "med-goose" he referred to was actually an older and bigger model of the plane he was currently piloting. Despite its somewhat ungainly appearance and lower top speed, the plane was very sturdy and highly stable even in high-turbulence owing to its design and internal workings which made for a smooth flight. Sanchez often quoted: "An ambulance doesn't need to look good in order to save lives."  
  
"I know what you mean. No need to fret though as my sensors indicate that this storm system isn't that big. We'll be out of it in 20 minutes so just keep it steady," Max replied.  
  
Max shifted his attention back to his instruments as his thoughts went back to the three survivors. Dr. Helderberg wanted to maintain their cryo- suspension in the escape pods as this would enable faster transport and Max initially agreed. One of the technicians however, found that the IV-mix was about to expire thus the need to bring the survivors out of stasis immediately. The doctor was against the idea but after confirming the IV expiry and the instability of the superstructure they were in, he agreed. A slight nerve or cellular damage was a much better option as opposed to having the survivors get poisoned by the very fluid that kept them alive after all this time.  
  
"Oh well, here's another piece of the puzzle for you, Rick!" Max thought to himself as he shook his head, thinking of the ramifications of Admiral Hayes' survival.  
  
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo  
  
Back in the airbase, Rick was gently stretching his arm and rotating his left shoulder to hasten sensation as Lisa-Minmei was now resting her head on his lap. She had shifted her sleeping position from restingon his shoulder to one more or less lying down and Rick was relieved. Another 15 minutes had gone by after the officer informed him of the rescue team's ETA. Rick overheard a few personnel talking about the freak snowstorm that Max and his team ran into and he knew that he and Lisa-Minmei would have to wait a bit longer for her father and the other survivors from Alaska Base. He was thinking of how to get up without waking Lisa-Minmei but Rick was given a bit of luck as she woke up of her own accord.  
  
"I'm sorry. I guess I must've fallen asleep. How long was I out, Rick? Has Max and his team returned from Alaska yet?" Lisa-Minmei inquired.  
  
"They encountered a sudden snowstorm but no need to worry. They're still fine though they might take a bit longer than expected," Rick replied.  
  
"I see. I'm glad to hear that. Oh, I hope they make it here safely Rick. I desperately want to see my father again," said Lisa-Minmei as she expressed her anxiety.  
  
"I'm sure he'll be okay. After all, you got Max leading the escort wing so just relax. I'm here," Rick said reassuringly.  
  
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo  
  
Back in Dr. Lang's lab, he and Exedore were discussing Lisa-Minmei's condition. Displayed on various screens were diagrams, CAT-scans, MRI- images, ECG-scans, etc of the current individual known as Lisa-Minmei. As a comparison, the same diagrams of one of the 'melded' ships that was originally from the Q'Azira fleet was also displayed on the other screens.  
  
"As you can see Dr. Lang, a 'melding' is very thorough and complete if achieved properly. The battle-cruiser shows no abnormalities and functions well, in fact, much better than its original specifications," Exedore began.  
  
"Yes, I can see that now. For all intents and purposes, the capabilitites of both cruisers ADDED to each other instead of canceling each other out," Dr. Lang replied.  
  
Indeed, the battle-cruiser was highly prized by whichever officer got to command it. It was faster, more maneuverable, had faster response-time, the hull healed faster, and all onboard-systems rarely suffered glitches even in extreme conditions. Max noted how it was quite easy to recognize which of the B'Elarna ships were originally from the Q'Azira fleet as these looked newer, sleeker, and cleaner as well, not only outside but inside too. Zentraedi who were onboard those melded ships would swear that the ships not only regenerated damaged areas of the hull but actually "grew" a whole new 'skin' when damage was more than 50%. It was more of a 'moulting' rather than just healing. It wasn't surprising that these 12 former Q'Azira ships were part of a special sub-fleet within the B'Elarna division; one that Commander Zelaenna designated as her personal escort-ships and as initial raiding party. Indeed, most of the meritorious sorties and victories Zelaenna had, hinged more or less on having those 12 ships participating in the mission.  
  
"Impressive capabilities, indeed. Commander Zelaenna was quite fortunate to have these 'tweaked' ships," Dr. Lang noted.  
  
"I agree, doctor. Not only she but Commander Khyron benefited from those ships as well," Exedore added.  
  
"Khyron? How so?" Dr. Lang asked.  
  
Exedore went on to explain that there were 20 of these former Q'Aziran ships that survived the faulty space-fold intact. Zelaenna preferred the faster cruiser so she took the 12 while the rest went to Khyron's Boturu Division. However, the 8 ships Khyron took were the slightly larger command ships that had more firepower and needed more personnel. Khyron benefited from having these ships in his division as well.  
  
"In fact, based on these latest findings, I had a few tests done on the remaining debris from Khyron's ship and found out that the command-cruiser he used in his last attack was one of them," Exedore explained with a slightly crestfallen expression.  
  
"You mean...............I see. No wonder he was able to restore it quickly. I was surprised to see that ship's superstructure survive a more or less direct hit from the SDF-1's main gun. Had the aim not wavered a bit....." Dr. Lang exclaimed as he slumped back into his seat.  
  
"I was surprised myself, doctor. But I did find out something important as well; something that I hope can be useful in this predicament," Exedore continued.  
  
"And that would be?" Dr. Lang queried.  
  
"As I was conducting further tests on it, the piece of debris I examined split into two. At first I thought it was a quirk in the repair matrix but after close inspection, there were 2 IDENTICAL pieces inside the chamber. It took me a few days of exhaustive experiments but in the end, I was able to deduce that the pieces came from 2 different ships," Exedore explained.  
  
"You mean they reverted back?" Dr.Lang asked.  
  
Exedore nodded in reply. It seemed that the melding wasn't permanent and wore off after some time though in the case of Khyron's cruiser, centuries had passed.  
  
"I am unsure how long it might take for Capt. Hayes and Lynn-Minmei to separate back into 2 individuals but it might just be possible. However, I do not have the equipment that could hasten such nor the experience in these matters," Exedore added.  
  
"You're right, Exedore. However, I do recall you saying that the Robotech Masters on Tirol possess the kind of technology that could help us," Dr. Lang stated.  
  
"Yes, I believe they can solve this matter easily. But for all intents and purposes, we enlightened Zentraedi are now their enemies as well as we disobeyed direct orders. This effectively rules out any possibility of assistance from them, don't you think?" Exedore replied with a bit of humor that Dr. Lang would swear was on Exedore's face.  
  
"So I guess Capt. Hayes and Lynn-Minmei would have to suffer their current condition indefinitely?" Dr.Lang asked.  
  
"Yes, I'm afraid so, doctor," Exedore replied.  
  
"How unfortunate for them," Dr. Lang sighed.  
  
"And for Admiral Hunter. I believe those 2 women were 'competitors' for his affection, were they not, doctor?" Exedore asked.  
  
"Why Exedore, I believe that was a joke you just made," Dr. Lang stated.  
  
"Really, doctor?"  
  
"Indeed."  
  
Exedore took a few minutes to digest Dr. Lang's observation.  
  
"Thank you," Exedore replied.  
  
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo  
  
"Admiral Hunter, sir? Lt.Cmdr Sterling and his team are about to land," stated the same officer who informed him of Max's ETA a while ago.  
  
"Thank you. We'll proceed to the tarmac shortly," Rick saluted back.  
  
Rick saw that Lisa-Minmei was still asleep and was unsure of how to wake her. In the end, he decided to do so in the gentlest manner he could think of at such short notice.  
  
"Time to get up, Misa. Max and his team will be landing shortly. Your father will be here any minute now," Rick said gently as he caressed away another stray forelock from her brow.  
  
"Wha-what? They're here?! Why didn't you wake me up sooner, Rick?! Oh, do I look alright?!" Lisa-Minmei uttered in dismay as she fidgeted about trying to smooth the creases in her clothes and fixing her hair.  
  
Rick couldn't stand it any longer and burst out laughing as he observed Lisa-Minmei milling about.  
  
"And what is so funny, mister?!" Lisa-Minmei asked as she stood arms akimbo while giving Rick a scolding look.  
  
Rick laughed for a few seconds more then calmed down.  
  
"It wasn't' funny at all Misa, it was beautiful," Rick replied. Lisa-Minmei could find no retort to such an honestly-given compliment and could only feign irritation at Rick.  
  
"Let's proceed to the tarmac, shall we?" Rick offered.  
  
Lisa-Minmei concurred and took his hand as they made their way to the airstrip. She was thinking about her father as they went when she suddenly recalled how Rick addressed her back in the base.  
  
"Misa?" she asked.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You called me 'Misa' back there. Is that any indication of your preference then?"  
  
"It's more a chronological factor than a preference, not to mention it's a lot easier to say compared to 'Lisa-Minmei'. I mean, would you rather be called Lei?" Rick half-teased.  
  
Lisa-Minmei looked at him incredulously then smiled despite herself. Rick was right: 'Lisa-Minmei' was indeed a mouthful to say while 'Lei' sounded too Chinese for her. Her 'Minmei' part preferred that though and there was no doubt she'd be wrangling with herself for some time after this. For now, 'Misa' was fine.  
  
Note:  
  
I know, "Misa Hayase" was the character's original name in the first place. It was a very fortunate coincidence as far as I'm concerned. 


End file.
